Passive precision targeting: Current systems do not provide sufficiently precise targeting data without the addition of a laser rangefinder. Tactical ISR systems have the need to precisely geolocate targets in their field of view. Desired targeting location accuracies are in the 1-3 meter range. Existing electo-optical/infrared (EO/IR) systems are unable to meet this requirement from tactical standoff ranges. High performance Inertial Navigation Systems and laser rangefinders are used to improve accuracy in large EO/IR systems. This fielded capability produces target location errors of about 10 meters from a 10 kilometer slant range. Small EO/IR systems that use lower grade inertial sensors and lasers produce target location errors of 10 meters from a 2 kilometer slant range. This error is not sufficiently accurate for precision strike GPS guided munitions. Areté has a superior approach that produces 1-3 meter accuracy without the need for expensive inertial sensors and lasers. AGILE relies solely on GPS position metadata streaming down with the full motion video. 

The AGILE targeting process starts with the georegistration of the sequential images to an earth-referenced coordinate system. After flying on a path that provides for approximately 30° of perspective about the area of interest, the precise GPS coordinates of every item in the field of view is known. Areté has demonstrated true earth coordinate accuracies to 2 meters. Relative heights of buildings were measured to a resolution of 0.1 meters. The algorithms are robust to data dropouts and compensate for Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) drift. Areté has created a passive precision geolocation without scene-based fiducials of unparalleled capacity.