Object Recognition
On-board neural models classify and label humans, animals, and vehicles in the frame, with bounding boxes and confidence scoring streamed live to the operator.
Non-Lethal • Detection Only
Autonomous detection,
Autonomous detection,
engineered at the edge.
Sunset Research and Development builds lightweight autonomous drones that see, classify, and track in real time — purpose-built for civilian and non-lethal training environments. Sensing, not striking.
Real-time
On-board edge inference
3 classes
Human · Animal · Vehicle
0 payloads
Detection only · non-lethal
Technology
A full detection stack, running in the airframe.
Perception, motion analysis, and flight autonomy run together on compact edge hardware — no tether, no cloud round-trip, no weaponization.
Motion Detection
Frame-differencing and optical-flow pipelines surface movement against complex backgrounds — flagging activity early so the platform can orient and confirm.
Autonomous Flight
ArduPilot-based flight control handles stabilized waypoint missions, loiter, and return-to-home — letting the operator focus on the detection feed, not the sticks.
Edge AI
Inference runs locally on a Raspberry Pi paired with a Hailo accelerator — keeping latency low and data on-device, with Arduino / Pixhawk handling the flight layer.
The Platform
A purpose-built detection drone — light, printable, autonomous.
Our airframes are 3D-printed in-house, keeping the platform light, rapidly iterable, and field-repairable. Every unit carries the full perception and flight stack on board, so it can run a detection mission end-to-end without a ground tether.
The design goal is simple: a credible, repeatable sensing platform that civilian and training teams can deploy, maintain, and trust — with zero offensive capability by design.
Real-time
Edge inference, on-board
~15–25 min
Target flight endurance
3D-printed
In-house airframe
ArduPilot
Autonomous flight stack
Applications
Built for sensing, situational awareness, and safety.
Every use case is detection and monitoring — giving operators a clearer picture, never an offensive tool.
01
Non-Lethal Training
A live aerial detection feed for training exercises — helping instructors track movement and positioning across a controlled environment, with full review afterward.
02
Crowd-Safety Monitoring
Density and movement awareness for events and gatherings, surfacing flow and congestion so safety teams can respond early — observation only, no intervention.
03
Search & Locate
Wide-area scanning to help locate people or vehicles across open terrain, classifying detections in real time to focus ground teams where they're needed most.
04
Site & Perimeter Awareness
Autonomous patrol patterns over a defined area, flagging motion and unexpected activity to a monitoring station so personnel keep continuous situational awareness.
Get in touch
Bring autonomous detection to your team.
Request a technical briefing on the Sunset Research and Development detection platform — capabilities, deployment, and how we keep it strictly non-lethal and detection-only.