The robot war is delayed: why did FPV-punks with machine vision not become “star” on the battlefield?

At the beginning of 2024, the first videos of the use of Ukrainian FPV-punks with machine vision technology appeared-the drone “captured” the target and destroyed it on its own, despite the loss of communication with the pilot.

This made everyone talk about the next coup in FPV technologies. It is popular that machine vision will make it easy to bypass enemy electronic fighting and make drones more efficiently.

Fantasy also painted more futuristic scenarios-that the appearance of machine vision in the FPV-nail combat-is a direct ticket to switches of drones that will be able to go out to “hunt”, look for hostile equipment and quickly destroy it.

But a year has passed, and the mass use of drones with machine vision is not noticeable. Instead, the military, the state and producers are investing much more resources in a more reliable means of protecting communication – drones on the fiber.

Dmitry Kazantsev and Bogdan Miroshnichenko, journalists of the defense project, spoke with Ukrainian guidance technologies, drone manufacturers, military and state representatives to understand when FPV with machine vision will become really a mass phenomenon at the front.

What is machine vision and how does it work?The idea to teach the drone to see the enemy goal and “to break” on it in the last tens of meters without the participation of the operator did not appear from the empty space – it is caused by two key factors.

The first is the emergence of an increasing number of enemy electronic fighting systems (HRV) and radio electronic intelligence (RAP), which analyze the working frequencies of Ukrainian drones and stall them with the last meters to the target.

The second – when working at long distances, relief and limited radio and horizon complicate the damage to the target, because closer to the Earth the connection with the drone is lost. Therefore, there was a need for software, which will bring the drone to the target alone.

This should work as follows: FPV-Dron, equipped with technology with the algorithm of automatic recognition of images, after “capture” the operator remembers the outline of the target and focuses on them during the flight. The drone retains the image of the target, tracks its movement and flies on it even after complete loss of the pilot.

The emergence of high -quality machine vision technology and skillful use will mean the complete helplessness of the enemy rebon on the last hundred meters to the target, since the destruction team is fed outside the area of ​​its action. But it is only in theory. In practice, to develop quality software that will really work in combat conditions is not a simple task.

The complexity of this technology was explained by VGI-9, which develops software for Ukrainian FPV combat. The targeting process is in several stages.

First – capturing visual data from the camera. Then – image processing: filtration, improvement, selection of contours. The following is the recognition of objects, templates and movements and the help of a neural network. Well, after all, it is self -making in the management of drone based on image analysis.

And all this should happen in seconds, at high speed, with surgical accuracy, as well as take into account various external factors, such as drone load, wind gusts, target speed, etc.

The stated functionality of modern Ukrainian self -introduction modules is wider than it may seem at first glance. For example, FPV-Dron “General Cherry” is equipped with a VGA-9 module from the company “Engineering Corps”. It has a built -in cruise control that allows the drone to fly on the coordinates without the participation of the pilot, the zoom of the main and additional screen, the function of adjusting the trajectory of flight, when the goal is already captured, fast transition to manual control, the ability to work in dusk, built -in algorithms of correction in wind, and more.

Ukrainian models with machine vision are perfectly performing tasks at the landfill, but demonstrate ambiguous results on the battlefield.

Does machine vision work on the front?The mass use of machine vision technology in the FPV-punks in the Ukrainian army, at least from numerous videos of lesions, is not noticeable. One of the manufacturers of drones, which has been testing machine vision for almost two years, said “defenders” that the technology is now raw and works “mediocre” in almost everyone.

“Conducting normally works on Kamikadze aircraft, which fly at long distances. It is very necessary, because due to the refraction of the radio horizon there is a loss of video binding on the ground.

Quadcopters are more difficult, because for the military is often a problem to even bring drone to the distance of “capture” of a hostile object. In addition, complementing does not cope with moving goals. Another problem is FPV cameras that have insufficient quality to recognize the goals at a distances of 500 meters. Many have a machine vision, “somehow there” works, but it has not become a technology that changes the course of war, ” – said the interlocutor.

Reviews from the military about Ukrainian drones with machine vision can be heard different.

One of the Ukrainian UAV operators, who wished to remain anonymous, told “defenders” that machine vision helps in individual combat situations, but as a remedy against HRS remains weak.

“In my opinion, if there is a rob supply, you will not even be able to fly to the goal. But technology is suitable for bypassing relief obstacles and in the conditions of driving a drone for the radio horizon. It is also very important, because nature does not always give the ideal conditions for work. Less, ” – said the military.

Embrace the radio horizon implies a situation where the connection with the drone is lost by the “rounding” of the earth. And relief obstacles are when the relief itself prevents the radio waves from reaching the drone in a straight line.

The commander of the platoon in the anti-tank company of the 13th Brigade of NSU “Kharti” Igor Raykov told “the defenders are that their operators are now focused on the development of drones on fiber and regular radio communications, because it is for these types of drones on the front.

Read also: As Ukraine unfolds the production of drones on the fiber

“The Russians have learned to hide and mask well, so that a living person can identify and” capture “such a goal,” Raikov said, said, – said Raykov, said, Raykov said. Adding that nowadays drones with machine vision are not very similar to how to look ideally.

The Brave1 State Defense Cluster “Defluers” told that FPV-drones with machine vision is a decision that is already working at the front and purchased by the state. But technology still has some drawbacks:

▪️Dear quality of cameras that interfere with machine view correctly capture objects;

▪️ The operator’s inability to send a drone to a specific point, such as a vulnerable place in the tank, which can reduce the efficiency of use;

▪️ The complexity in the conversion of ready -made drones into new modules.

“Development of automatic reconciliation system FPV-roma is a challenge at the intersection of several complex disciplines: machine vision, trekking algorithms, optimization for limited computing resources and work in unstable combat conditions. In the Ukrainian market, more than 40 teams are engaged in the development of their own. purchasers or manufacturers.

As a result, they demonstrate a product that is not yet ready for combat use – and this forms general skepticism to the entire market of machine vision. The military see unsuccessful attempts and conclude: “Technology does not work.” We are consciously working to break this myth. The optical complement system is not a future, it is a today’s tool that actually works, destroys the enemy and helps the military to save lives, “the developers from Vgi-9 said.

The problem of mass and effective introduction of machine vision technology can also be related to the lack of unification – in Ukraine hundreds of manufacturers of drones that use different components.

According to Oleksandr Soloshchenko, the chief engineer of “General Cherry”, which produces FPV-punks, machine vision systems are not universal and integrate only into a specific “iron”. For example, for certain flight controllers that are not always available.

“If we take other accessories for the drone, then the integration of the software is needed again. It takes some time and resource,” the engineer explained.

The need for unification in the FPV-ouzh segment has long been ripe. These are issues to the state procurement bodies, which should be clearly defined with the standards of components and make drones more or less the same in terms of basic characteristics, rather than to encourage the “Zoo” of Technologies.

“Another problem is that work with complement requires additional skills in the pilot. Not all pilots have them and need additional training. Our partners have created a simulator that allows you to learn how to control the drone with complementing even an inexperienced pilot,” – added Soloshchenko.

It is obvious that the focus of the attention of manufacturers and the military is now focused on technologically simpler drones with fiber management. In essence, they solve the same problems as drones with machine vision – work under the influence of EW and in the conditions of complex relief.

But according to Alexei Babenko, the director of Vyriy, one of the largest manufacturers of FPV-oils, fiber-optic connection can be supplemented conceptually, but not replace drones with complement.

“We can close a short distances: 10, 15, albeit 20 kilometers. With the systems of complement, it is about long -distance flights,” Babenko said in an interview with “militaristic”.

Do you expect a new technological jerk from machine vision?Despite the ambiguous first intermediate results, lowering your hands and hiding machine vision is definitely not worth it.

First, there are many cases of use of drones with autographing in real complex combat situations. Secondly, technology continues to develop gradually with the FPV-Drone platform itself and the companies that produce them.

The machine vision module rises by only a few percent, so it may make sense to integrate it into the base FPV-Dron as one of the possible functions, and it will only be used by the military in specific specific cases, if necessary.

Manufacturers are first and foremost working on improving the camera, which is one of the weaknesses of auto -ponators. And the teams of software developers are already gradually proceeding to the development of the technology of “drones”.

“We will not yet call the specific timing of the emergence of a ready-to-use solution. However, we know that in Ukraine there are already teams that are actively testing the” swarm of drones. ” What kind of combat, weather or other conditions will be applied is another question, “-said the engineers and developers of the VGI-9 team.

“Technology has proven itself well. The trend is that the use of drones with speed/machine vision will become more and more. Engineers are constantly working to improve these systems, which will make them even more effective in the future,” – said Alexander Soloshchenko.

Brave1 said that 100+ companies engaged in production of machine vision drones in Ukraine have been known in Ukraine.

Integration of autographicing is a logical technological stage in the development of the FPV-Drone as weapons-this is recognized in both Ukraine, Russia, West and China. One of the developers told “Defenders” that produces new software updates every few weeks to force his product to show the best result.

The only question is whether the technologies of machine vision and the “swarm of drones” will become mature until the end of this war, or will be able to fully manifest themselves during the next.

In the meantime, the developers are just working to create a truly high quality machine vision, it is mostly necessary to fight the usual FPV-Drons on radio communications with additional equipment. The anti-tank company of the 13th Brigade of NSU “Khartia” is collected on equipment for their FPV so that they can get Russians in Kharkiv in a long distance and not even let them into Ukrainian positions. You can help the military at this link.

See also: drone, swarm drones, machine vision and FPV on the fiber