Earlier this month, open source solution provider Auterion announced the release of Skynav Gov – a scalable, handheld ground drone controller to help government agencies streamline their UAS programs.

Powered by Auterion Mission Control, Skynav Gov controls drone systems running Auterion Enterprise PX4 or communicating over MAVLink.

Skynav Gov can control any type of drone, including quadcopters, multi-rotors, VTOLs and fixed-wing vehicles, as well as unmanned ground vehicles.

Equipped with Auterion Mission Control, the platform empowers users in setting waypoints, surveying areas and scanning corridors.

In addition, Skynav Gov streamlines data collection from an expanding variety of sources, including day/night full-motion video, high resolution still photos and signals intelligence, as well as metadata with most any data stream.

Users gain the ability to see complex patterns and connections from a mass of data, providing a deeper understanding of how various forces impact each other.

Thanks to its open-source nature, Skynav Gov deploys widely accepted industry stands available via the hardware platform without being bound by proprietary restrictions of other government vendors. Skynav Gov is fully compliant with Section 848 of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

Other features include:

• Scalable control: The ability to use a single controller for any Group 1 and Group 2 UAS communicating over MAVLink
• Versatile connectivity: Skynav Gov supports three different radio transceivers (Microhard, Silvus, Persistent Systems) and has built-in LTE.
• Reduced cognitive overhead: Skynav Gov is made for operators, not engineers, as the primary user.

Auterion is no stranger to government contracts – the U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Innovation Unit announced a $2 million project last year with the Swiss company to enhance open-source drone software. The partnership has the potential to standardize operating system’s for defense drone models as the Army expands its drone fleet.

In October, Auterion partnered with GE Aviation to launch Hybrid Project‘s SuperVolo – a long-range, VTOL, hybrid gas-electric UAV. Earlier last year, the Swiss company released SkyNode – a device that enables 4G connectivity for drones.