They were a novelty not that many years ago, but today drones are growing quickly in popularity and importance, used for everything from documentary filmmaking to surveillance and payload delivery on modern battlefields.
For military applications, undermining the effectiveness of a drone by denying it use of critical data and control inputs is something all major armed forces are likely working on. As such, the more independent one can make a drone, the greater its chance to be effective today and in the environments of the future.
Sparc AI (CSE:SPAI; OTCQB:SPAIF) has developed a solution that enables drones to assess object location without the use of GPS, radar, or other inputs that most such devices currently rely on. Its technology is ready to commercialize, and other innovations for drone operator control platforms are just around the corner.
Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine spoke recently with Sparc Al Chief Executive Officer Anoosh Manzoori about the technology’s capabilities, practical applications, and the status of commercialization efforts.
Sparc AI’s technology uses sophisticated algorithms to measure the location and distance to any object on land or water, with military drones being an important application. How would you define the company’s current objectives?
Our core mission is built around technologies that allow products to work out in the field without GPS.
Interruption to GPS is a real challenge for both defence and commercial applications. There are something like 34 GPS satellites, and you need four of them to record just one location. The receiver connections to these satellites can be compromised, leading to a GPS-denied environment.
Looking at an object that is 5 kilometres away, for example, and determining its geocoordinates and distance without GPS, or any other sensor, is the crux of what we are trying to solve.
That would be our target-acquisition system, and we have another product that is coming that adds intelligence to that platform. It is all operating in a covert environment without GPS.
With drones, weight is an issue, as an operator often wants them to fly long distances or loiter for extended periods. What equipment does Sparc AI attach to drones to facilitate your solution?
Our solution is completely software-based; the telemetry data that is already with the drone is what we use. We need to know the height of the drone. And all drones have a barometer so they can measure air pressure as they move up in the sky. We need to know the angle of the camera pitch in terms of its line of sight. We also need to know the heading or the compass of where the drone is pointing.
What we are doing is mathematically creating a representation of the device in the air relative to the terrain and where it sits. It becomes spatially aware of where it is and where it is pointing, and we can then do a representation of where it is looking and calculate the distance and geolocation.
We don’t use any sensors. We don’t use lasers, lidar, radar, or image recognition software. Although we use the camera, it is already on the drone for the benefit of the operator to see what they are looking at.
We are installed on a Parrot ANAFI drone, a military drone. It is a 500-gram drone, so if we were to put more equipment on it, you would not be able to fly the device.
Because we are software-based and covert, there is no signature emitting from the drone, and nobody knows we are doing any targeting. We save on payloads, weight, and battery.
What is the maximum distance Sparc AI’s technology can measure?
Range really comes down to the ability for the operator to see the target. On the ANAFI drone, for example, the camera enables us to zoom in on a target. We have not seen any limitations on the range and have tested as far as 50 kilometres. We are limited based on how much we can see.
With alternative technologies that might be using a laser system, radar, or lidar, the farther away the object becomes, the less accurate it generally is. Think of a laser beam that becomes more like a cone as it goes farther from its source. These technologies are also detectable and not covert.
Mathematically, there are no limitations in terms of how far the technology would work. It also works on both land and water.
What is the competitive landscape in this market? Technology with military applications is in intense development around the world.
In the military sense, there is a category of products called the target-acquisition system. They typically weigh about 20 kilograms to 25 kilograms and fit a soldier’s backpack. They require a bit of setting up, have to be installed on a tripod, and come with a cable about 25 metres long that connects to a tablet.
The solider needs to install it, position the device, then go and hide somewhere with the tablet to control the system. The reason they need to do that is because the system has a laser – and sometimes radar – on it, so it emits a signature. Basically, when you are looking at your adversary, you then become detectable, and they can start to look back at you. You start to put yourself at risk the moment you set this up.
The system is also quite expensive and requires a lot of energy, so soldiers typically carry extra battery packs.
The alternative is to put the equipment onto a drone. That means the drone is big, quite expensive, and will send a signature back to the enemy.
The way Sparc AI works, because it is completely software-based, it can be used on any device. The Parrot ANAFI is a drone very much used on the edge of the battlefield, and with Sparc AI you could do your target-acquisition rapidly, without any detection.
The software is installed on the controller, so we are not using any resources of the drone. We have also developed an extension where we are able to navigate the drone autonomously using purely the target-acquisition system to record the location and coordinates for navigation.
Are there other markets in addition to military applications?
Another market is search and rescue, where you identify the location of assets or people during emergencies. The technology was sold to one of the largest telecommunications companies, and it was installed on fixed cameras rather than drones. Think of an old pipeline that requires maintenance that is located in GPS-denied environments.
Sparc AI’s technology is very specialized. Can you discuss your team with us?
We have two people who are ex-military personnel, one of whom had leading roles in special forces here in Australia. So, both have experience in the defence sector that not only commercially helps open doors but also enables us to better tailor our product for the defence market.
We also have two directors who are very experienced in commerce and finance and dealing with technology companies.
As for myself, I built one of the largest cloud hosting companies in Australia before exiting and have been an active investor for the past 25 years. I’m quite technical and have made significant contributions to our technology and source code.
Where are you in terms of commercialization?
We have a couple of approaches. One is speaking directly to defence departments here in Australia, as well as in Canada and the United States. These are often through referrals and people we know in the industry, and we are conducting regular live demonstrations of the product.
We are in discussions with contractors that supply products directly to defence, and there is an opportunity for Sparc AI to be bundled as part of an existing offering.
We have also been accepted into the Parrot Technology Solutions Program. Parrot sells their drone primarily to defence and first responders. They have an indirect sales model where they sell their product through distributors and resellers around the world, and they have a program where they invite companies integrated into the Parrot platform to provide additional capabilities to plug into that distribution and gain potential customers.
We are also discussing with partners here what they call loitering solutions, which are solutions on the edge of land and water for surveillance and situational awareness in coastal areas.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
One thing that is quite important for this type of business is capability, so the more capability and intellectual property we build into the product, the closer it brings us to being able to get commercial contracts and build value for the company in terms of possibly being acquired. There is a lot of new capability that we have been working on and will be rolling out soon. We have made some announcements around it already, but there is more coming to elevate the capability of this product.
This story was featured in Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine.
Learn more about Sparc AI https://sparcai.co/home.
