Edge compute, for mission perception
The flight-critical loop runs on the autopilot. Everything the aircraft needs to understand the world — terrain matching, target tracking, route generation — runs on a second computer alongside it. This subsystem is that computer and the software on it. It feeds the autopilot; it never replaces it.
The flight-critical guidance, navigation and control loop runs on the proprietary Veronte Autopilot 1x at its own fixed rate. This subsystem is the second compute domain: the mission and perception workloads that feed the core — scene matching, target tracking, route generation — and never replace it.
Latency expressed as distance
At 100 to 270 metres per second, every millisecond a computer spends thinking moves the aircraft forward. A late answer is an old answer, and an old answer points at where the target used to be.
The autopilot does not stop flying while perception works. It holds the aircraft on its own estimate and takes each fix, track or waypoint when it arrives. That is why this path is engineered for a worst case and not an average: a late update costs accuracy, and only accuracy.
Flight-critical and payload compute
The split is deliberate. The autopilot baseline owns everything that keeps the aircraft in the air; the mission computer owns everything that tells it where to go and what is there.
| Domain | Owner | What it carries |
|---|---|---|
| Flight-critical core | Embention Veronte | State estimation, guidance modes, control execution, actuation and a deterministic schedule. |
| Mission & perception | Apollyon | Terrain and scene matching, target detection and tracking, route generation. |
| Interface | Narrow by design | Navigation fixes, track coordinates and waypoints. The core never waits on this path. |
Keeping perception off the flight-critical core buys two things. A fault in perception cannot destabilise the aircraft, and a change to a perception model does not touch the flight-control loop.
Know where you are, know what you see, know where to go
The mission computer carries three families of workload.
Terrain and scene matching
A camera frame is correlated against stored reference imagery to give an absolute position fix. No RF emission and no satellite signal. Midcourse and terminal fixes for Hemlock and the Piranha USV use this path.
Target detection and tracking
Optical and thermal frames are searched for targets. Detection, classification and track coordinates are handed to the autopilot's tracking mode, which flies the terminal phase.
Route generation
Terrain-following routes and waypoints are computed from open terrain data before launch and updated in flight. The route reaches the autopilot as a mission plan, not as control commands.
The mission computer sits inside a sealed composite airframe with no liquid cooling. Power draw and heat are first-order constraints on what can run, so every workload is sized to the airframe's thermal budget before it is sized to its accuracy target.
Design against the worst case, not the average
A pipeline that averages 2 milliseconds but spikes to 18 milliseconds once every five hundred cycles cannot be trusted to feed a terminal dive. Averages hide the cases that matter.
Every workload that feeds the core carries a timing budget measured against its worst case. Flight telemetry logs the latencies at microsecond resolution, and the budgets are re-derived from measured flights, not from bench averages. When a budget is exceeded, the autopilot simply continues on its own estimate.
What runs on the mission computer
| Platform | Workload pipeline | Perception rate | Compute constraint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahuti Interceptor | Adaptive world model, terminal optical target tracking, effector-guidance support. | 60 Hz vision · high-rate tracking | High-rate terminal tracking for fast interception. |
| Nightshade ADX-1 | Multi-spectral EO/IR object detection, visual scene tracking, autonomous terminal dive homing. | 30 Hz vision | Conduction-cooled embedded compute module rated for sealed composite airframes. |
| Hemlock | DSMAC terrain scene matching, optical horizon reference, terminal LWIR silhouette correlation. | 20 Hz correlation | Shock-resistant embedded compute module with terrain correlation for high-subsonic flight. |
| Piranha USV | Shoreline DSMAC correlation, optical waterline tracking, hydrodynamic trim support, peer mesh. | 30 Hz waterline tracking | Salt-mist sealed enclosure, high shock-load dampening. |
Platforms carrying this subsystem
Supports: Robust flight control, GNSS-denied navigation.