Enabling UAS to Operate in GPS-Denied Environment

STM has successfully concluded the Kerkes project, referred to by President Recep Tayyip  Erdoğan as “a large-scale project that is of great importance to us,” emphasising that Türkiye is among the few countries working in this field. Launched in 2019 under the leadership of the Defence Industry Agency (SSB), customer acceptance of the solution has now been completed.

“We have successfully completed the Kerkes Project, which allows UAV platforms to operate in environments in which there is no GPS coverage. With this technology, which only a few countries are working on, our tactical mini-UAVs will be able to carry out missions without being affected by enemy electronic warfare threats such as GPS jammers. This critical capability we have introduced to our country will serve as a deterrent for our army in homeland defence, and will be a game-changing technology in combat environments,” commented Prof Dr Ismail Demir, President of SSB.

Özgür Güleryüz, STM General Manager, stated that the company has applied its national engineering capabilities to the introduction of this technology, and that it can also be applied to ground and naval platforms. “When there is no communication, location estimation is achieved by processing the data and images received from the sensors, allowing strikes against targets detected by artificial intelligence and deep learning techniques. This capability set obtained as a result of the Kerkes Project will be adaptable to other mini/micro, tactical or operational UAV systems.”

Kerkes enables rotary- and fixed-wing UAVs to conduct missions in GPS-denied environments, achieving location estimation and mission execution through navigation based on object recognition and deep learning capabilities. The UAV begins the mission with a loaded map, compares that with data obtained from the field, and successfully executes the mission. It therefore allows for mission completion with zero effect emanating from EW threats such as GPS jammers.