5 males in a room on the outskirts of Boston consider they’ll change the world. It’s described as “American ingenuity in motion,” in keeping with crew chief and CEO Kanwar Singh.
Singh’s optimism in a turbulent world is bred from the phrases of former President John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your nation can do for you, ask what you are able to do on your nation.” Singh serves his nation, whether or not as a captain within the U.S. Army (Massachusetts Nationwide Guard) or whereas main the 100% American-owned, Massachusetts-based firm Skyline Nav AI, Inc.
He based the corporate in 2020, in the midst of a worldwide pandemic and previous to the worldwide conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and the broader Center East. The Harvard-educated Singh noticed throughout his personal time in service that overseas threats have been already turning into extra refined. Over the previous 12 months, he has frolicked with companions and allies in locations like Ukraine, Taiwan, Latvia, Poland and the UAE, saying, “You’ll be able to really feel the way forward for warfare within the air.”
Particularly, his issues have been derived from the affect of the World Positioning System (GPS), not simply in warfare however in on a regular basis life. A expertise utilized by billions of individuals has, like every other trendy machine or invention, its drawbacks.
That’s what precipitated the founding of Skyline Nav AI, and on a extra granular degree its Pathfinder expertise that goals to create a world much less reliant on GPS expertise that may be simply manipulated by adversaries and nefarious actors.
“When issues get laborious, when a pc imaginative and prescient mannequin doesn’t work, when a drone crashes throughout a subject take a look at, when the simple reply is to surrender—we take into consideration Marines in Fallujah in 2004, clearing road by road below hearth, in opposition to IEDs and RPGs, and nonetheless pushing by means of,” Singh mentioned. “We take into consideration a nation that after appeared up on the moon, heard ‘inconceivable’ after which did it anyway, and introduced each astronaut dwelling within the Sixties.”
Singh, though head of the corporate, is the bottom paid member of his crew. It’s deliberate, he mentioned, with the intention of capitalizing on his fairness curiosity within the firm sooner or later. Because the work continues, so do his and his colleagues’ efforts.
This provides me the best pleasure—when folks can get employment alternatives and are available to work, have enjoyable and in addition make a significant profession out of it.
I frolicked with Singh and his crew within the better Boston space, seeing “American ingenuity in motion.”
GPS: The $100 Billion Failure Level
“What occurs when that blue dot that we take as a right on Google Maps disappears?” Singh requested me, speaking about GPS failures inside a room marginally bigger than a typical New York Metropolis residence.
Such expertise has been ubiquitous for roughly 20 years, he famous, working from satellites some 12,000 miles away that don’t all the time present the strongest sign.
A 2019 examine commissioned by the Nationwide Institute of Requirements and Expertise (NIST) discovered that GPS at the moment had generated roughly $1.4 trillion in U.S. financial non-public sector advantages since civilians began utilizing it within the Nineteen Eighties. Singh and his crew adjusted that examine for inflation, discovering {that a} world blackout as we speak would end in roughly $100 billion in losses within the first 30 days, with $57 billion of that hit occurring within the U.S. alone.
“Simply think about if GPS disappeared in massive swaths of the world,” he mentioned. “Most business plane are primarily reliant on GPS. There will be huge flight cancellation and disruptions. There is also collisions taking place as a result of individuals are typically utilizing GPS for collision avoidance and instrument landings.”
If that blue dot disappears, it is going to be catastrophic from an aviation standpoint. But additionally consider first responders and public security personnel.
Police, firefighters and paramedics would have problem discovering addresses and residents in peril. Rideshare apps that rely solely on such alerts from house can be negatively impacted. Package deal deliveries or routine commutes by means of tunnels and dense city areas can be flung again a long time, returning to a time earlier than the comfort of digital navigation.
Russia has even induced home worries within the U.S. over its reported growth of nuclear weapons to be deployed in house, which Singh warned if ever occurred may blow up america’ GPS constellation and end in house particles that may have adverse implications “not for many years, however for hundreds of years.”
“Whenever you speak in regards to the extra sophisticated, extra automated stuff, it is a single level of failure,” Singh mentioned. “Corporations have kind of mentioned, ‘Hey, GPS is all the time there. It is free, because of the generosity of American taxpayers. Let’s simply use it.’ So, our complete civilization has been constructed on GPS.”
Therefore, Singh and his crew developed Pathfinder as a GPS-independent navigation system.
Pathfinder and GPS Jamming
Pathfinder is helpful for a world that desires to maneuver past simply utilizing GPS.
The GPS-independent, “plug-and-play” software program expertise makes use of laptop imaginative and prescient algorithms and totally different datasets to assist drones, floor autos, boats and plane navigate successfully with out the reliance on GPS, mobile alerts or Wi-Fi on air, land or sea.
Pathfinder Edge, a {hardware} navigation unit that runs the Pathfinder software program, is out there for adoption for below $1,000 versus the tens of 1000’s of {dollars} different firms are charging as we speak for comparable expertise.
To our data, nobody else has this functionality that works on each land and air wherever else on the planet. We actually think about this as a crown jewel for america and our allies.
Pathfinder Edge can take inputs from onboard cameras and Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), the latter an digital sensor that may measure pressure, angles and monitor movement.
Skyline Nav AI let me maintain Pathfinder Edge, simply ready to slot in the palm of my hand. Researchers mentioned that one in every of these models, a part of a comparatively entry-level system, can present a place that is typically correct inside just a few meters after GPS loss.
Skyline Nav AI’s clients and companions embody however usually are not restricted to the U.S. Air Power, NASA, U.S. Army, BAE Techniques, Kearfott Company, MassChallenge, MIT and Cornell College.
The actual-world affect of tech like Pathfinder is to eradicate, or on the very least decrease, the impacts caused by GPS jamming—which is utilized by criminals or throughout army operations to “jam” or interrupt GPS alerts that overpower satellite tv for pc alerts.
In essence, it causes confusion and might result in fragility in intense army campaigns, equivalent to in Japanese Ukraine the place the observe has grow to be commonplace.
Singh analogized jamming with exhibiting as much as a symphony orchestra and somebody deliberately drowning out all of the notes. Jammers as we speak, whereas unlawful, may be bought on black markets and even on websites like eBay.
The act itself dates again to the Chilly Battle and the way the previous Soviet Union ushered in a brand new period of digital warfare that obtained retaliation from america, with its personal applied sciences. To regulate, the Soviets, and later the Russians, developed jamming tech to try to remain forward of the U.S.
Quick ahead to the Russia-Ukraine battle that started in February 2022, and Russia continued its jamming actions as a army tactic but additionally as a technique of self-preservation.
“Russia knew that they could not struggle in opposition to the U.S. and NATO,” Singh mentioned. “The U.S. and NATO equipped munitions on to the Ukrainians, however [Russia] knew that the only piece of failure that these items had was the very fact they have been all reliant on GPS.
“And so Russia, to their credit score, has been utilizing digital warfare fairly considerably within the present Ukraine battle. But when we truly take a step again, consider it or not…on the peak of the battle in Iraq and Afghanistan, there was digital warfare taking place in opposition to our troops.”
Should you “join the dots,” Singh mentioned, digital warfare applied sciences have been possible equipped to Al-Qaeda and ISIS by our adversaries.
Simply final August, a aircraft carrying European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen was jammed whereas touchdown in Bulgaria. The incident led to fingers being pointed at Russia.
Jamming vs. Spoofing
Threats pertain to each jamming and spoofing, with the variations indicated of their names.
Jamming refers to intentional actions aimed to deprave GPS alerts and forestall people or in any other case to garner obligatory entry. Spoofing, alternatively, is extra of a deception approach that makes use of pretend alerts, inflicting receivers to have the fallacious knowledge.
Singh recalled what occurred final summer season, on the peak of the 12-day battle between Iran and Israel, when folks awakened in Israel and opened Google Maps solely to find the app was exhibiting they have been in Lebanon, Syria or different international locations as Israel was spoofing its personal GPS alerts.
“So, in the event that they have been below assault from Iranian drones or missiles, they would not land on course with Israel spoofing GPS alerts in its area,” he mentioned. “That is real-world stuff. It is form of loopy what we’re seeing nowadays.”
It’s even prolonged to the U.S.-Mexico border, in keeping with Singh, the place drug cartels try to throw off home regulation enforcement. “We’re grossly unprepared as a rustic and civilization for this degree of exercise,” he mentioned.
However what occurs if jamming does happen? Properly, it might probably truly be reversed. As a crew researcher who requested anonymity instructed me, “You go discover the jammer and also you inform them to show it off kindly, and if they do not flip it off kindly, you go in weapons blazing.”
Navigating the GPS-Denied Atmosphere
“GPS is such an incredible, sturdy expertise that it is actually, I might say, inconceivable to compete with that,” Stephan Koehler, a employees engineer at Skyline Nav AI, instructed me. “However there are conditions the place we will do in addition to GPS.
“And as we develop our algorithms, our sensors, we’re pushing these frontiers additional and additional in order that we will function in GPS-denied environments.”
That features having the ability to higher discover positions, equivalent to in dim or nighttime situations with assistance from reasonably priced infrared cameras. Different frontiers being pushed embody detection in areas with very sparse objects, he mentioned.
Koehler, who previously taught physics on the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, confirmed me a real-time laptop visualization of how inputting totally different datasets in numerous situations will help higher develop predictive fashions for GPS-independent navigation.
Visible techniques depend on each software program and {hardware}. That’s when electronics procurement and provide chains, clearly along with prices, come into play.
“We’re creating good algorithms for low-cost platforms on the sting,” Koehler mentioned. “Our goal is a few thousand [dollars] versus tens to lots of of 1000’s of {dollars}. So, we’re utilizing off-the-shelf consumer-grade merchandise and utilizing superior algorithms on the sting to construct a aggressive answer.
Actually, that is one in every of our huge challenges. After I mentioned off-the-shelf consumer-grade merchandise, actually, we additionally must have a steady provide chain which doesn’t depend on low-cost stuff popping out of Asia.
For instance, Koehler and firm have used parts manufactured in Asia for inside testing functions however purpose to make the most of U.S and allied-made parts. There’s a discrepancy between product availability, supply and value that impacts the day-to-day operations in Massachusetts and numerous different areas.
“The availability chain on the nicer issues can also be extraordinarily costly and [has] extraordinarily lengthy lead instances, like weeks,” he mentioned. “And we function on days, proper?”
He talked about the crew’s want to get their palms on a long-wave infrared digicam that was delayed. Seems, it’s the identical expertise that’s being deployed on drones within the Center East.
“Your lead time simply went up from two weeks to, I need to say 5, however it’s in all probability increased,” he mentioned about prolonged wait instances. “So, we’re proper now filling within the gaps with no matter we will get.”
Koehler mentioned their favourite provider is Amazon as a result of they’ve in a single day transport, although the difficulty is that the majority of their merchandise are Chinese language, which he described as “fairly good things, but it surely simply does not match with our steady provide chain mannequin.”
Therefore, they use such merchandise for prototyping whereas placing in orders, ready for the higher-quality, dearer gear with longer lead instances.
The Downward-Wanting Eye: How Pathfinder Sees and Navigates
Koehler defined that the Pathfinder Edge’s principal sensor is a downwards-facing digicam that acknowledges panorama and movement.
The crew describes it as absolute localization and visible odometry.
“So, we’re downwards-looking, and based mostly upon that, the visible, we will work out how far we have gone and the place we have gone, just like the odometer in your automobile.” Koehler mentioned.
Additionally they use the accelerometers that may help each with localization and fusion. And if or when every thing goes unhealthy, the IMUs can be utilized for useless reckoning, which alludes to calculating current positions based mostly on previous positioning.
“However the problem with useless reckoning, particularly for IMUs, is that the drift or error grows quadratically with time,” Koehler mentioned.
He defined that as time passes, the inaccuracy does not simply develop however accelerates. If the system is off by a certain quantity after one minute, that error does not simply double by minute two; it quadruples. By minute 4, the error has surged to 16 instances its unique measurement.
A video tutorial was introduced, exhibiting a split-screen matching extra dynamic earthly options and pictures with these from satellites. Drones used within the crew’s analysis can basically retailer photos which can be relayed onto a tough drive.
It’s actually not with out its snags. For instance, Koehler famous how out-of-date satellite tv for pc photos make it tough to geolocate. Additionally, terrain with no objects (assume roads, constructions, bushes, and so forth.) may be laborious to navigate for cameras hooked up to drones. They’re additionally engaged on gathering nighttime data, although thermal expertise may be difficult.
Altitude performs a job, too. Koehler mentioned the crew’s “candy spot” for drone utilization is roughly 50 to 2,000 meters, permitting footage to seize “attention-grabbing” data whereas not susceptible to colliding into buildings or bushes, and so forth.
Pathfinder Edge on Drones in Motion
I used to be given unique entry to see Pathfinder Edge in motion as a part of my on-site go to, escorted to an open subject to expertise drone testing.
There, a number of computer systems have been set as much as function the take a look at missions and match the crew’s inputted knowledge with the precise flight of the drone.
Completely different “targets” have been loaded onto Pathfinder Copilot (mission management system), with drone operators choosing a goal or a number of targets inside one mission. Inside seconds of OK’ing the coordinates, I watched the drone take flight.
Singh held the distant management, ready for his crew to greenlight the mission. He toggled switches and knowledgeable everybody to heed warning forward of the drone’s takeoff, staying at the very least 20 toes away because it left the bottom.
“We’re taking off in 3…2…1…,” Singh mentioned, vocally asserting the gap. He let me toggle a change to deploy Pathfinder, electronically linking the distant controller and drone with the info enter within the crew’s Pathfinder Copilot that tells the drone precisely what to do.
The drone flew over its goal and performed a simulated gentle drop and returned dwelling, all accomplished autonomously. Mission success.
Retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. John Driscoll noticed the sequence, telling me that drones have modified the warfighting recreation that’s grow to be a far cry since World Battle II and the times of air superiority tied explicitly to plane.
A lot credit score has been given to Ukraine’s Armed Forces for this ideological change.
“What Ukraine is exhibiting is that you need to search for now,” Driscoll mentioned. “That’s the mindset we’re instructing on the primary coaching degree. The entire three-dimensional battlefield is maturing; the most important factor is you need to be situationally conscious, from the rifleman on prime, to the commander within the rear.”
Hold the concept that you don’t need to expose your troops.
Whereas described as nice, Driscoll added that drones are simply one other warfighting “device” that requires self-recognition on behalf of 1 unit or nation’s forces, together with the wherewithal that adversaries are in lots of cases utilizing the identical or comparable expertise.
Ukraine and the Acceleration of Innovation
For Driscoll, who served 33 years within the Army and retired in 2022, conversations about drones’ efficacy have been commonplace relationship again to 2015.
He mentioned that since, the expertise and data of drones has “been evolving, however Ukraine has simply accelerated that.”
“When Russia attacked, Ukraine instantly knew what they wanted to do to counteract pressure as a result of they’ll’t outlast them by way of manpower and materials. Nevertheless it’s the human dimension of fight that’s the most dynamic, and that’s management—the proper folks, in the proper place, on the proper time to counteract the chances in opposition to them,” he mentioned.
The U.S. is a little bit “behind” on drone manufacturing amid its bigger protection provide chain, Driscoll added, although he believes the Trump administration’s acceleration of the trade coupled with a extra sturdy industrial base will pay dividends for the U.S. army sooner or later.
Singh’s crew brings collectively three generations (Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X) to develop this expertise. Driscoll, a child boomer, views this collaboration as a “legacy mindset” in motion: a challenge pushed by nationwide curiosity quite than private achieve or company revenue.
He in contrast it to a mantra for startups: “Should you’re going to fail, fail quick and transfer on to the following factor.”
“That’s what you want, that freedom to create,” Driscoll mentioned. “It’s a stability. You need to have initiative come up and attempt to make it work, get all these good concepts and pull them collectively. On the similar time, you’re ultimately going to need to resolve on what the usual is.”
A New Period of American Development
All that’s to say, progress will solely be made if there’s an urge for food for it together with the proper folks overseeing such developments.
Singh mentioned that newer fashions and ideas usually are not separate however synonymous with conventional strategies of army pondering. He mentioned that in years prior, firms and even the army itself have been “taking pictures at midnight” about how one can get these newer applied sciences from the cutting-room flooring to the meeting line.
“We didn’t have these skillsets in any respect,” Singh mentioned. “4 or 5 years in the past, you possibly can not discover a single American-made flight controller and digital pace controllers. These are crucial parts that go in drones like that.”
Calling provide chain woes a “huge problem” for almost each firm on this explicit manufacturing house, he mentioned Skyline Nav AI is taking issues into its personal palms by constructing its personal parts after guaranteeing prototypes are purposeful.
Or, it could embody working with different U.S. firms or allied nations to outsource manufacturing.
“However now, because of the collaboration taking place throughout the trade, requests and want and demand for the U.S. army saying ‘We wish these applied sciences,’ that’s now creating a requirement sign for markets and corporations like ourselves to take a position on this,” he added.
Skyline Nav AI is being rewarded for its enterprise prowess.
After debuting its Pathfinder Edge at TechCrunch in October 2025 in San Francisco, the successes proceed. Pathfinder Edge has been efficiently fielded throughout a number of use instances.
Earlier this month, Pathfinder received second place and “crowd favourite” on the 2026 MIT-Harvard Expertise & Nationwide Safety Convention Pitch Competitors held in Cambridge, Mass.
Singh additionally wrote a ebook, Recalculating: Life When GPS Goes Darkish, to expound on his issues relating to nefarious actors and the way they’ll trigger potential calamities sooner or later.
The vulnerabilities Singh explores in Recalculating are actual, however with Pathfinder Edge, they’re solvable. From the palm of a hand to the cockpit of an plane, Skyline Nav AI is delivering a degree of resilience that was as soon as the stuff of science fiction.
As the worldwide panorama turns into more and more advanced, Pathfinder stands as a testomony to American ingenuity: a system so sturdy, so exact and so built-in that you just’ll neglect it’s even there.
As a result of, ultimately, probably the most highly effective instruments aren’t those you see; they’re those you may implicitly belief.
“The perfect expertise,” Singh says, “is the sort that disappears.”
