InZero's Next-Gen Drone Technology -
Advancing the
State-of-the-Art

The Drone Dominance Innovation Challenge

2025 Finalist Award Optical UAS Navigation in GPS-Denied Environments

In step with the White House Executive Order to reinforce U.S. leadership, we’re delivering visionary UAS innovation for safer, smarter, more secure drone operations.

OpticaNavi is a cost-effective UAS detection solution using multiple communicating optical sensors that can cover a massive area, track swarms of UAS, and perform tasks like UAS detection, classification, calculating trajectory, providing redundancy and resilience to different types of attacks on sensors, including physical, cyber, power, or network outages.

Small, Smart, and Unstoppable:
Optical Navigation for UAS. A compact AI-vision module unlocking lightweight,
cost-effective autonomy.

OpticaNavi provides optical navigation as a GPS backup, preventing drift, auto-land, and crashes during GPS loss. Its real-time computer vision—visual SLAM, visual odometry, and proprietary algorithms—computes precise position for fully autonomous flight without satellite or RF signals. This closes a critical Army gap by enabling fire-and-forget UAS operations in DDIL environments. Now at TRL 4 with a proven prototype, OpticaNavi will use Phase I to validate feasibility for Group 2/3 platforms and run simulated munition-delivery missions. It also boosts reliability for small Group 1 munitions and payloads, offering a compact AI-vision module that enables lightweight, low-cost drones to navigate in GPS-denied conditions.

New Optical UAV Navigation
for GPS-Denied Environments

What is OpticaNavi?

Optical Backup Navigation

Outdoor autonomous optical navigation as a reliable backup when GPS fails

Lightweight
Low-Cost Module

Designed for small- and medium-sized drones, with hardware costing less than $400

Universal UAS Integration

Modular, can integrate easily with any UAS, emulates GPS interface

Absolute & Relative Positioning

Provides absolute (AP) and relative (RP) positioning to ensure drone location & stabilization

Offline Geospatial Mapping Capability

Uses compressed area maps preprocessed by AI, and can work without recent satellite imagery (Google Maps)

How OpticaNavi Works

Optimized Computer Vision

Computer vision optimized for autonomous outdoor UAS navigation using NVIDIA Orin GPU (40 TOPS Edge AI)

Optimized Computer Vision

Combination of traditional image feature extraction algorithms and lightweight AI models for maximum reliability & efficiency

Lightweight AI Models

Low latency enabled by custom CUDA C++ code high-performance parallel computing: ~15 msec for RP, ~100 msec for AP

Preflight AI Map Generation

Optimizes UAS CPU/GPU workload through our intensive preflight computations (map generation using Web Mercator projection, AI feature extraction, dependencies calculation, data compression)

OpticaNavi: Solving Real-life Challenges

  • Drone views from the sky often look quite different from satellite images
  • AI helps to recognize important features AND filters unimportant and obstructed image parts
  • Location discovery when current UAS position is completely unknown (initial location challenge)
  • Sensor fusion and additional validation for GPS, IMU, and compass data
  • Continuous location data provided to flight controller: (GPS → OpticaNavi → IMU), accuracy within 2 meters on altitudes 50-200 meters

OpticaNavi Compared to Other Drone Solutions

Compared to standard drone GPS-denied solutions, OpticaNavi adds an additional sensor, a combination of AI vision based on video input, and uniquely advanced mathematical algorithms heavily optimized for edge computation capacity. This enables drone localization in the GPS-denied environment embodied in the small lightweight OpticaNavi hardware module.

Compared to other solutions, this also brings larger anti-jamming capability to a miniaturized and highly cost-efficient version for initial use in the small-to-medium drone. Critically, the InZero Module is not reliant on recent satellite imagery needed for existing solutions that are based on optical input.

OpticaNavi Prototype
using the
Jetson Nano Development Kit

OpticaNavi:

Simple, practical, low cost, easy-to-use drone solution
for the GPS-denied environment.

See our Patented Innovative Cyber Security Solutions at

InZeroSystems.com

For additional OpticaNavi™️ information, demonstration or other inquiry,
please call us  at 1-703-636-2048
or info@inzerosystems.com.

For our other technologies please visit our website inzerosystems.com