The European Defence Fund (EDF) project NAVISENSE-X officially started on 1 November 2025, had a two-day kick-off meeting held on 10–11 November 2025 in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Hosted by SKYLD SECURITY AND DEFENCE LTD, the project Coordinator, the meeting brought together representatives from all seven partners to align on the vision, work plan and first milestones of this ambitious 48‑month research and development effort.
NAVISENSE-X focuses on autonomous navigation for unmanned aerial vehicles operating in GNSS‑denied or highly contested environments, where satellite signals may be jammed, spoofed or unavailable. To address this challenge, the project will combine multi-sensor fusion (including inertial, visual and ranging sensors) with advanced AI techniques such as neuromorphic processing and hyperdimensional computing. The goal is to deliver robust, low‑latency navigation and situational awareness for defence users who rely on unmanned systems in demanding operational scenarios.
During the kick-off meeting, partners reviewed the overall system architecture, refined use cases and agreed on responsibilities across work packages. The discussions covered technical integration, validation scenarios, ethics and security considerations, as well as communication and dissemination activities towards end-users and the wider European defence ecosystem.
NAVISENSE-X brings together 7 organisations from5 European countries (SKYLD Security and Defence Limited (Coordinator) – Cyprus, Neuromorphica Ltd. – Bulgaria NeuralAgent GmbH and Scertas GmbH – Germany, University of West Attica) and UCANDRONE S.A – Greece, RSI Europe, UAB – Lithuania), and is funded by the European Union under the European Defence Fund.
Selected under the EDF 2024 “Research actions in the form of a technological challenge” (topic: Multi-sensor integration for robust autonomous drone navigation – Participation in a technological challenge), NAVISENSE-X will work closely with the challenge organiser and fellow participating projects across joint milestones, experiments and reviews.
The successful kick-off in Nicosia marks the beginning of a joint European effort to deliver trusted, resilient and interoperable navigation capabilities for future defence operations.
