BlindFlight Resilience Challenge

OVERVIEW

EDGE Group, the Seeker for this Innocentive Challenge, is searching for innovative designs for UAV platforms capable of operating through GNSS jamming and spoofing, to navigate through deception.

The BlindFlight Resilience Challenge invites innovators, research institutes, academic teams and startups, with expertise in UAV and aerospace systems development, electronics, robotics, data and algorithms applied to sensors and navigation, to propose a suite capable of sustaining autonomous UAV operations – even in the face of signal denial and deception.

EDGE Group encourages innovation and is open to different approaches, as long as its robust and has practical feasibility.

You could modify an existing UAV platform design or create your own; your goal is to ensure safe, stable, and precise navigation for autonomous UAVs when flying blind.

Any winning solution must demonstrate theoretical robustness and practical feasibility, at a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) >6 – this must be demonstrated and supported by your Explainer Video along with clear evidence, including but not limited to:

• System designs
• Hardware schematics
• Other supporting videos
• Test data

If you can prove that your UAV system can survive and thrive without GNSS - providing clear positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) - this is your opportunity!

If you're interested in learning more about the Evaluators' requirements for this Challenge, we invite you to watch the recording of our Evaluator webinar from 23/10:

Your IP Rights are protected in this Prize Challenge; EDGE must pay you an award to obtain them.

The best solution has the opportunity to win the award of $25,000 for meeting all must have solution requirements. This Challenge requires a written proposal to be submitted and Awards will be contingent upon the theoretical evaluation of the proposal by EDGE against the Solution Requirements, and in particular the quality of your evidence.

To receive an Award, Solvers are required to grant non-exclusive license rights to the Intellectual Property (IP) in their proposed solution. Solvers will retain all rights to any proposal not Awarded. There is no assignment of IP Rights with this challenge.

EDGE is willing to consider a collaboration agreement if non-exclusive IP rights cannot be transferred by a Solver that is an organization owning the IP rights in their proposed solution.

WIN Scouts are invited to participate in this Challenge, this being any Solver who can propose a potentially suitable partner from your network. By referring a relevant partner you could receive a share of a separate $1,000 referral award if they submit a shortlisted solution.

Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on November 3rd, 2025.

Please review the later Participation Guidance section before submitting a proposal.
 

- Login or register your interest to start solving

ABOUT THE SEEKER & ELIGIBILITY

Launched in November 2019, the UAE’s EDGE is one of the world’s leading advanced technology groups, established to develop agile, bold and disruptive solutions for defence and beyond, and to be a catalyst for change and transformation. It is dedicated to bringing breakthrough innovations, products, and services to market with greater speed and efficiency, to position the UAE as a leading global hub for future industries, and to creating clear paths within the sector for the next generation of highly-skilled talent to thrive.

With a focus on the adoption of 4IR technologies, EDGE is driving the development of sovereign capabilities for global export and for the preservation of national security, working with front-line operators, international partners, and adopting advanced technologies such as autonomous capabilities, cyber-physical systems, advanced propulsion systems, robotics and smart materials. EDGE converges R&D, emerging technologies, digital transformation, and commercial market innovations with military capabilities to develop disruptive solutions tailored to the specific requirements of its customers. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, EDGE consolidates more than 35 entities into six core clusters: Platforms & Systems, Missiles & Weapons, Space & Cyber Technologies, Trading & Mission Support, Technology & Innovation, and Homeland Security.

For more information, visit edgegroup.ae   

This Challenge opportunity invites individual innovators, teams, start-ups, research institutes, and established companies from anywhere in the world, except:

• Employees of EDGE Group and its affiliates;
• Employees of agents or suppliers of EDGE Group or any of its affiliates, who are professionally connected with the Challenge or its administration;
• Members of the immediate families or households of the aforementioned;
• Any person or entity registered or ordinarily resident in a country that is on a sanctions list at any time during this Challenge (including, but not limited to, the Sanctions Lists maintained by the United States, the United Nations and the European Union).

WIN Scouts are invited to participate in this Challenge, this being any Solver who can propose a potentially suitable partner from your network. By referring a relevant partner you could receive a share of a separate $1,000 recognition award if they submit a shortlisted solution.

THE CHALLENGE

Background

Autonomous flight in contested environments is increasingly constrained by the availability and reliability of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). In many operational scenarios (whether due to hostile jamming, deliberate spoofing, or unintentional interference) GNSS can no longer be considered a single point of truth.

Despite the proliferation of advanced navigation technologies, small- to medium-size UAVs remain heavily reliant on GNSS for critical flight operations, posing a significant vulnerability.

Common GNSS in the world (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou) may be less- or non-functional in high-threat domains: military operations, borders with jammers, denied or restricted environments.

C4ADS, a non-profit focused on reporting in conflict and security, undertook research that revealed 9,883 suspected GNSS spoofing events undertaken by Russia in just 2 years, through 2016-2018. The majority were attributed to maritime or tactical military activity. These events affected an estimated 1,311 civilian vessels’ navigation systems (C4ADS).

To address the potential threats to navigation in the face of spoofing or jamming, various alternative navigation systems have emerged that reduce reliance on GNSS: Visual SLAM, Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) or inertial navigation, magnetometers, LiDAR, and radio frequency triangulation.

However, few end-to-end solutions exist that integrate these modalities into a robust, flight-ready, GNSS-independent UAV system.

This Challenge seeks to close that gap: you are invited to prove your system or design offers more resilient navigation capabilities, without GNSS dependence, in contested/denied environments.

The Challenge

Participants must propose a UAV platform or reference architecture that demonstrates resilient navigation under the following three scenarios:

1. Nominal GNSS Operation – to benchmark baseline performance
2. GNSS Jamming – loss of GNSS signal
3. GNSS Spoofing – malicious signal injection that mimics authentic GNSS data

Your system must maintain flight stability, accurate trajectory tracking, and navigation robustness under all three scenarios.

Your solution can use an existing UAV platform (e.g., PX4-based fixed-wing, quadrotor, or Group 2 VTOL) – or propose a minimal reference platform for context.

You will be expected to detail your sensor fusion strategy and system architecture, including:

• Detailed description and design
• Full sensor architecture (including modalities, placements, bandwidths, update rates)
• Design of the navigation algorithm (sensor fusion logic, state estimation, spoofing rejection) or equivalent
• Test scenarios & results
  • Simulated or real-world GNSS loss, spoof, and degraded radio frequency conditions
  • Trajectory accuracy
  • Mission Completion
  • Error propagation and log

EDGE is particularly interested in how your solution delivers against the following needs:

Solutions will be expected to show evidence of performance, surpassing TRL6, ideally through simulation results, bench tests, or flight trial data; to include metrics related to:

• Drift – under jamming/spoofing
• Latency of response to GNSS loss
• Control stability in degraded mode
• Time to recover from spoof-induced divergence
• Mission completion rate, under all 3 listed scenarios (normal operation, jamming, spoofing)

You may define your own concept of operations (CONOPS), or select from:

1. Urban recon UAV in RF-contested megacity (GNSS spoofing + multipath)
2. Coastal ISR drone flying near a naval jammer
3. Resupply drone that must penetrate contested terrain with high EW activity
4. Swarming node that must maintain formation in degraded GNSS environment

SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS

EDGE Group recognizes the difficulty presented by this Challenge and encourages your proposed solutions to be innovative and not constrained by what may be considered as overly prescriptive needs.

There are though key requirements any solution submission must show, with evidence, that it can address:

Must have:

1. Your Explainer Video for your solution - supplement with promotional videos if available
2. Demonstrated TRL >6 – robust evidence (data, designs, further videos, and/or code) that show the readiness of your solution
3. Functional under the 3 stated modes – nominal GNSS, jamming events, and ongoing spoofing; your system must maintain flight stability, accurate trajectory tracking, and navigation robustness under all three scenarios
4. Operational Feasibility – considerations of size, weight, power implications, costs, and onboard system integration potential
5. Full architecture, sensor fusion, and navigation data handling design – present a clearly-defined architecture, fusion logic, and relevant metrics
6. The proposed solution should provide EDGE "freedom to practice” or be available for potential licensing or a collaboration if from an organization, there should be no third-party patents or patent applications preventing the use of the proposed solution.

EDGE is also particularly interested in your differentiating factors; please do not be limited at all by these examples of potential differentiators:

1. Onboard spoofing detection and real-time evasive response
2. Use of computer vision or Radio Frequency fingerprinting to identify landmarks or other terrain features
3. Resilient swarm synchronization under GNSS denial scenarios
4. Integration with pseudolite-based fallback navigation

Things to Avoid/Out of Scope:

Simulated spoofing is encouraged, but actual spoofing is actively discouraged except under the strictest of test conditions and with relevant permissions.

No classified signals or military GNSS channels should be used in relation to this Challenge.

Platforms detailed should operate with commercial, off-the-shelf software or open-source autopilots where possible.

Judging Criteria

EDGE’s evaluation team will consider the following criteria when reviewing your solution proposal:

• Navigation Robustness – Accuracy and stability displayed across all three GNSS senarios
• Sensor Fusion Design – Elegance, operation, and efficiency of data fusion strategy
• Navigation Data Performance – Related to metrics such as drift rate, spoof rejection, and response latency
• Operational Feasibility – Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) impact of the system, cost, and complexity of integration
• Adaptability – Portability to other platforms or CONOPS mission types.

Solutions with Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 6-9 are invited.

This Prize Challenge has the following features:

1. Your IP Rights are protected; EDGE must pay you an award to obtain them.
2. The best solution has the opportunity to win the award of $25,000 USD for meeting all must have solution requirements, as solely determined by EDGE.
3. Awards will be contingent upon the theoretical evaluation of the proposal by EDGE against the Solution Requirements, in particular the quality of your evidence.
4. To receive an Award, Solvers are required to grant non-exclusive license rights to the Intellectual Property (IP) in their proposed solution. Solvers will retain all rights to any proposal not Awarded. There is no assignment of IP Rights with this Challenge.
5. EDGE is willing to consider a collaboration agreement if non-exclusive IP rights cannot be transferred by a Solver that is an organization owning the IP rights in their proposed solution.
6. EDGE may also issue “Honorable Mention” recognitions for notable submissions that are not selected for monetary awards.
7. WIN Scouts are invited to participate in this Challenge, this being any Solver who can propose a potentially suitable partner from your network. By referring a relevant partner you could receive a share of a separate $1,000 referral award if they submit a shortlisted solution. The input required is guided during the submission process for WIN Scouts below. 

YOUR SUBMISSION

Please login and register your interest, to complete the submission form.

The submitted proposals must be written in English and can include:

1. Participation type – you will first be asked to inform us how you are participating in this challenge, as a Solver (Individual), Solver (Organization), or WIN Scout (submission uses an alternative form).
2. Solution Level - the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of your solution.
3. Platform description – existing UAV, test setup, or minimum viable design.
4. Problem & Opportunity - highlight the innovation in your approach to the Problem, its point of difference (its differentiating factors), and the specific advantages/benefits this brings (up to 500 words).
5. Solution Overview - detail the features of your solution and how they address the SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS. In particular your detail about Beyond GNSS – how does your platform and architecture overcome the spoofing and jamming of GNSS (clarify for the 3 scenarios), and go beyond the state-of-the-art in positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), Sensor Architecture – modalities, placements, bandwidths, update rates, Navigation Algorithm Design – sensor fusion logic, state estimation, spoofing rejection (500 words, there is space to add more in the summary field, and attach supporting data, diagrams, etc – ensure you attach your Explainer Video).
6. Solution Feasibility – Supporting Information and Rationale, such as references and precedents, that will help EDGE evaluate and validate the feasibility of the solution. Include your Test scenarios, data, and results – including simulated or real-world GNSS loss, spoof, and degraded radio frequency conditions; trajectory accuracy, mission completion, and error propagation and Failure Mode Handling – reversion logic, safe mode activation, and landing strategy (up to 500 words).
7. Experience - Expertise, use cases and skills you or your organization have in relation to your proposed solution.  (up to 500 words).
8. Solution Risks - any risks you see with your solution and how you would plan for this (up to 500 words).
9. Timeline, capability and costs - describe what you think is required to deliver the solution, estimated time and cost (up to 500 words).
10. Online References - provide links to any publications, articles or press releases of relevance (up to 500 words).

PARTICIPATION GUIDANCE

1. Submission Close Date: Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on November 3rd, 2025.
2. Late submissions: Late submissions will not be considered.
3. Multiple submissions, 3 Maximum: In case of multiple submissions by the same Solver, only 3 submissions – the final 3 submitted – will be considered. Any other submissions will be deleted prior to evaluation.
4. Submission form and attachments: Your submission will be evaluated by the evaluation team first reviewing the information and content you have submitted at the submission form, with attachments used as additional context to your form submission. Submissions relying solely on attachments will receive less attention from the evaluation team.
5. Interviews: These will be arranged for the authors of shortlisted proposed solutions.
6. Evaluation notification steps: After the Challenge submission close date, EDGE will review and select the winning ideas/solutions according to the timeline in the Challenge header, to include interviews with those shortlisted. Everyone who submits a proposal will be notified about the status of their submissions.
7. Use of AI: Please note that any submissions produced solely with generative AI are not of interest.
8. Learn more: Find out more about participation in Innocentive Challenges.