Multi-sensor drone detection for the low-altitude picture.
Radar · passive RF · EO/IR · site-specific integration.
VIGIL defines the sensor integration architecture for radar, passive RF and EO/IR. The focus is a common observation picture built around partner equipment and the interfaces available at each site.
- RADARWeibel XENTA-M5
- PASSIVE RFMyDefence Watchdog 202
- EO/IRCST SENTINEL HD Ethernet
AI illustration. Shapes inspired by publicly known models. A reference alone does not imply a partnership, endorsement or compatibility with VAERN.
Three sensing modes, one picture.
Radar, passive RF and EO/IR each see the low-altitude environment differently — and each is blind in its own way. What follows is what the three measure, and what each cannot do on its own.
Radar
Measures where, and how fast.
Range, bearing and speed — regardless of what the drone transmits. An autonomous aircraft emitting nothing at all still leaves a track.
On its ownIt tells you something is there. It rarely tells you what — and small, slow targets close to clutter are the hard ones.
Passive RF
Listens for the control link.
Bearing, protocol and often an identity — the model, and sometimes where the pilot is standing — without radiating anything itself.
On its ownIt goes quiet the moment the drone does. A pre-programmed flight with the link switched off is invisible to it.
EO / IR
Puts eyes on it.
An electro-optical and thermal camera, cued by the other two, gives the operator the picture that turns a track into an identification.
On its ownA narrow field of view has to be pointed somewhere before it sees anything — and weather and darkness cost it range.
No one mode is enough. The point of running them together is that each covers the others' blind spot — and that combination is what CORE fuses. The same holds for sensors you already own or source elsewhere: they enter through the same interface. VIGIL is a sensor package, not a closed system.
In the decision loop.
Multi-sensor detection: radar, passive RF and EO/IR — partner-supplied sensors integrated by VAERN, or the sensors already on site.
NEXUS is designed to link forward nodes into one network.
Explainable edge AI fuses sensors and classifies tracks.
The operator sees one air picture and authorises the response.
Capture nets, kinetic interceptors and RF jammers — supplied by authorised partners under their own authorisations and used only where the law allows. VAERN does not manufacture effectors.
Details.
| Sensor types | Radar · Passive RF · EO/IR |
| Ranges | Set by sensor mix and site — specified per deployment |
| Interfaces | Planned as open, documented at integration |
| Third-party sensors | Planned — open interface, fitted to each integration |
| Certifications | None held today. |
Figures are set per deployment — every site gets the mix it needs, and we publish no numbers we cannot stand behind.
Detection is the start of the loop — but never the decision. VIGIL sees; a human decides.