GPS is a single point of failure. Jam it, spoof it, or fly where it never reaches, and a vehicle that trusted it is lost. We build the vision and sensor-fusion software that lets a platform know where it is without it.
Vision-based navigation
A camera is a navigation sensor if you treat it like one. We build feature tracking, visual odometry, terrain-relative navigation, and registration of a live image against known imagery or a map, on OpenCV and the same computer-vision toolchain behind our other work. The output is a position and attitude estimate that does not depend on a satellite.
Sensor fusion
No single sensor is enough. We fuse vision with inertial measurement, and with whatever else the platform carries, through estimation and filtering that stays honest about its own uncertainty. We have built the tools around inertial navigation, synthetic aperture radar, and depth sensing, and stitched them into an estimate a vehicle can act on.
Airborne and on-orbit
The problem changes shape at altitude and in orbit. We have worked on terrain-relative navigation for spacecraft descent and landing, part of our space domain work, and on airborne registration of a camera view against georeferenced terrain and imagery. Same core idea in every case: match what the sensor sees to what the map says, and solve for where you are.
Where it connects
This sits between several pillars: computer vision for the image side, space domain for descent and orbit, UAV for the airborne case, and visual simulation for testing a navigator against synthetic sensors before it flies.
Who works on it
AlphaPixel is a US-owned small business, founded in 2004, with senior developers who have built vision navigation, sensor fusion, and estimation for airborne, ground, and on-orbit platforms. DLA DD2345 / ITAR registered. We take closed-source defense work and open source alike.
Talk to us
Tell us what you’re building and where it’s stuck. We’ll tell you straight whether it’s something we can help with, and how we’d approach it.
Or see how we run consulting and software development engagements.
