Herakles GbR

Slogan

Small drones. Serious purpose

Profile

HERAKLES develops autonomous kinetic interceptors to counter highly agile, jamming-resistant FPV drones

Information

Conventional drone defense targets an older class of threats: consumer camera drones of the Mavic class are slow, reliant on radio and satellite navigation, and thus susceptible to jamming and hijacking. The dominant threat is a new one: weaponized racing drone technology, often fiber-optic-guided or controlled by AI terminals. This makes them immune to jamming and many times more agile and difficult to counter.
Anyone who wants to intercept them needs that same agility. That is the focus of our research: autonomous control natively implemented on racing hardware, in real time under harsh
conditions, with centimeter-level precision. We decouple target tracking and flight maneuvers algorithmically rather than mechanically.
Other areas of focus: Autonomy under electronic warfare conditions (GPS- and RF-denied), visual detection of small, moving targets while the system is in motion, and our own
simulation environment for FPV conditions.

Technology / Research

• Autonomous control and target guidance on highly agile multirotor platforms (FPV/racing class)
• Terminal guidance for underactuated aircraft: Decoupling the thrust vector from the sensor’s line of sight without mechanical stabilization
• Autonomy under electronic warfare—control and target tracking in GPS- and RF-denied environments
• Visual detection and tracking of small, low-contrast targets at long range while in motion (ego-motion compensation)
• Customized simulation environments for FPV/racing flight conditions and sim-to-real transfer
• Upgrading racing drone hardware for autonomous and safety-critical applications
• Non-explosive countermeasures against highly agile small targets
• Defense concepts against EW-resistant small and swarm drones

Products / Services

• HERAKLES – autonomous kinetic interceptor against fiber-optic-guided and AI-terminal-guided FPV drones (prototype, flight testing)
• Electro-optical terminal guidance and target tracking package with the option for integration into third-party effector platforms
• Simulation and testing environment for autonomous interception flights under FPV conditions
• Instrumented flight test and measurement campaigns with log-replay-based verification
• Technology and feasibility studies on drone defense against jam-resistant threats