Palladyne AI and Red Cat have completed a joint test flight with three different autonomous drones as part of a project to advance multi-drone interoperability.
The test used Red Cat’s Teal 2 and Black Widow drones equipped with Palladyne Pilot AI software.
Each drone processed data on board and communicated without a central control system, using limited communication links.
The drones detected and followed people, vehicles, and other moving or stationary objects in separate locations, allowing one operator to maintain real-time monitoring.
“For warfighters, this provides greater situational awareness while requiring fewer operators in the field to manage multiple assets,” said Geoff Hitchcock, Chief Revenue Officer of Red Cat.
“This latest test is a meaningful step toward making multiple, collaborative autonomous systems more practical and effective in real-world defense scenarios,” added Hitchcock.
Earlier this year, the two companies conducted a successful two-drone flight.
In December 2024, Palladyne AI conducted a single-drone test to autonomously detect, prioritize, and track ground targets using the Pilot AI software platform.
Pilot AI
The Pilot AI system is a unified software that integrates with various unmanned platforms.
Instead of having each drone controlled individually by operators, the Pilot AI software allows the unmanned aerial vehicles and onboard sensors to work together automatically.
It assigns tracking tasks across the network, ensuring that even if a target moves out of view or is temporarily blocked, another drone or sensor can pick up the track without manual intervention.
The technology reduces the need for manual coordination and improves drones’ ability to adapt to changing conditions during missions focused on intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
