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Post-Award Roadmap#

The 48-hour PoC artifact demonstrates the AiTR algorithmic core, the robustness story (perturbation sim), and the integration architecture (stubbed CROWS / thermal / TAK adapters with clean ABCs). The post-award plan turns the demonstrator into a fielded prototype suitable for the live-fire range demonstration.

This document is the honest "what we don't have yet" companion to the proposal. It is intended to be read by DIU evaluators in conjunction with docs/architecture.md and docs/integration-contract.md.

Honest baseline (today)#

  • Team: 1 PI (Argus Defense) + Claude Code as development partner.
  • Hardware in hand: Apple Silicon developer machine. No CROWS, no supplementary sensors, no edge compute target.
  • Data: Open-source / CC-licensed UAS clips only. No Argus-licensed UAS imagery yet.
  • Model: YOLOv8n on COCO weights with UAS-proxy class filtering. No UAS-specific fine-tuning.
  • Integration: Software-only PoC. CROWS / thermal / TAK / GVA are documented stubs.

Phase 2 pitch (immediately on selection)#

  • In-person pitch and live demonstration on Argus laptop + projector.
  • Q&A on integration plan, IP, ethics, and partnership pipeline.
  • Schedule alignment with DIU on the 3-month post-award window.

Post-award 3-month plan#

Month 1 — surrogate platform + supplementary sensors#

Workstream Deliverable
Hiring 1 ML engineer (UAS detection fine-tuning); 1 systems engineer (CROWS / integration).
CROWS access Engage Kongsberg US (CROWS-J/M153 OEM) for vendor surrogate + interface specs. Parallel: government FMS / NSWC channels.
Supplementary sensors Source EO telephoto (Edmund / MOOG class) + cooled MWIR (FLIR Boson+ / Tau 2 class) for 600 m detection envelope. SWaP-fit against M153 base.
Compute target NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin (or equivalent). Port pipeline; convert YOLO to TensorRT.
Pipeline Wire the existing RTSPSource and ThermalSource stubs. EO+IR detector fusion strategy.
Stabilizer Promote FeatureStabilizer with low-pass trajectory smoothing + IMU fusion.

Month 2 — UAS fine-tuning + tracker hardening + ranging upgrade#

Workstream Deliverable
Dataset Argus-licensed UAS imagery acquisition (commercial sources + government-shared data sets).
Model Fine-tune RT-DETR (Apache-2.0) or YOLOv9 (replaces Ultralytics-AGPL for production licensing). Hard-negative mining against cluttered backgrounds and bird confusion.
Tracker Swap IoUTracker for ByteTrack/BoT-SORT for dense scenes. Retain IoUTracker as the failsafe path.
Ranging Add platform-motion triangulation (turret slew parallax). Optional limited-duration laser ranging (CSO permits).
Range bench Indoor range testing 50–200 m initially; outdoor 200–600 m by month-end.

Month 3 — live-fire integration + range demonstration#

Workstream Deliverable
Live-fire range Government range slot scheduled. Argus delivers system + on-site engineer + remote support.
HITL workflow Operator handbook + checklist + dry runs with USMC / Army operators if available.
Audit + reporting Verification & validation plan; written safety case; post-engagement audit log review.
Demonstration Live UAS engagement scenario: Group 1 quadcopter at 100 m, multi-target option, adverse conditions injected.
Documentation Final technical report; transition recommendation; IP & licensing assignment.

Partnership pipeline#

Partner Role
Kongsberg US (M153 OEM) CROWS surrogate access; interface specs; integration review
NSWC / Army C5ISR Center Government-side range access; SME consult; FMS channel
FLIR / Teledyne Cooled MWIR sensor sourcing
Edmund / MOOG EO telephoto + gimbal integration
NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin + DGSC partnership
Anduril / Skydio / Shield AI Future C-UAS partner discussions (defense-tech ecosystem)

What this is not#

  • This is not a commitment that all partnerships will close in three months. The roadmap shows the credible path and the decision points.
  • This is not a guarantee of live-fire success on every shot — the CSO's stated engagement range (≥100 m) is achievable; performance beyond 200 m for Group 1 lateral movement (Part 2) is post-Part-1 work.
  • This is not a hand-wave on safety. Live-fire integration is gated on written safety case and government range acceptance.

Beyond Month 3#

  • Part 2 alignment: Multi-target engagement at lateral 7 m/s, ±10° to 90° elevation, 360° azimuth. Part 2 work plan is a separate scope.
  • Part 4 alignment: TAK + post-quantum encryption layer over the telemetry stream. Already stubbed in integrate/telemetry_sink.py.
  • Production hardening: ATO-style V&V, environmental qualification, long-tail data collection, operator certification program.