From prototype to pilot programme: integrating ShoalOS on your airframe
We supply the navigation payload and mission software; you keep the vehicle, the customer relationship and certification. The three-step path.
ShoalOS is built to be integrated into someone else's vehicle. This article sets out how that works in practice: who is responsible for what, what we supply, and the three steps from a first prototype to a pilot programme.
A clear division of work
We supply the navigation payload and the mission software around it. You keep the vehicle, the customer relationship and certification.
That division shapes everything else. SenzFusion is designed as a self-contained subsystem that adds GNSS-independent navigation alongside your existing autopilot. Your airframe and autopilot stay as they are; the host autopilot keeps flight control and receives course corrections from the payload.
Your airframe and autopilot stay as they are.
What we supply
- Payload + SDK — GNSS-independent navigation as a self-contained subsystem.
- Mission software — planner and operator tools, with SquadSense and Vision functions around the payload — coming soon.
- OEM integration — best suited to defence drone makers with modular platforms and accessible payload interfaces.
Coming soon: a Terminal Guidance System with Automatic Target Detection and Recognition (ATD/ATR). Target decisions stay with the operator and the host system.
Build, test, deploy
Every engagement follows the same path from prototype to pilot programme:
- Build — prototype development. Integrate sensors and compute on your airframe, and set up the imagery software.
- Test — run a controlled POC. Integrate the payload, then measure accuracy, latency, power, weight and safe fallback on the host aircraft.
- Deploy — run a pilot programme. Review acceptance results, then agree deployment scope, support, commercial terms and a scale-up decision.
The test step matters most. The payload's hardware is a proposed design, and storage, power, heat, sensor interfaces and latency still need validation on each platform. The proof of concept is where those numbers are measured on your aircraft, rather than assumed.
The integration surface
In the eight-layer ShoalOS stack, integration work concentrates at two ends.
L0 — hardware abstraction provides drivers and interfaces for the IMU, barometer, airspeed, radar altimeter, imaging radar and thermal camera, with GNSS as a check input. Autopilot interfaces cover PX4, ArduPilot and MAVLink, alongside gimbals and radio links. OEM integration at this layer connects each vehicle's sensors, actuators and communications hardware.
L7 — partner SDK holds the three SDKs: the SenzFusion SDK configures the payload and exposes navigation data to the host aircraft; the SquadSense SDK (coming soon) shares position quality, link status and system health across the team; the Vision SDK streams video, with edge ATD/ATR coming soon.
Together, L0 and the SDKs define the integration work required for each partner. Everything in between — the fusion kernel, navigation services, reference data and mission applications — comes with the platform.
If you build modular defence drones and want GNSS-independent navigation on them, start the conversation, or read the full platform architecture.
