Advanced Integrated Technologies Ltd (AiT) is a UK aerospace and defence engineering company with capabilities spanning advanced composites, RF structures, electromechanical systems, autonomous platforms, aerospace integration, analysis and testing.
AiT is developing STRATIS, a recoverable, persistent high-altitude autonomous aircraft intended to operate at approximately 60,000–70,000 ft for extended-duration missions. The platform is being developed for dual-use applications including persistent communications, surveillance and sensing, environmental observation, maritime awareness, infrastructure monitoring and specialist defence missions.
Operation at these altitudes and for extended periods introduces communications and navigation challenges that differ materially from conventional short-duration UAV operations. A persistent aircraft must retain dependable command and control, positional awareness and mission-data connectivity while moving through different communications environments and potentially operating hundreds of kilometres from its supporting ground infrastructure.
Future STRATIS operations may also involve more than one aircraft and require controlled transfer of communications or mission functions between aircraft without interruption to the service being delivered.
AiT is therefore seeking technologies from communications, aerospace, telecommunications, autonomous systems, PNT, RF, software and related sectors that could address this requirement. Technologies developed originally for other applications are explicitly welcomed where they can be adapted to the high-altitude aerospace environment.
The Challenge
The challenge is to develop or adapt a resilient communications, navigation and mission-connectivity capability suitable for integration into a persistent autonomous aircraft operating at approximately 60,000–70,000 ft.
The system must enable dependable command and control of the aircraft while also supporting navigation information and the transfer of mission and payload data. It should be capable of managing multiple available communications or navigation sources intelligently and maintaining service where an individual link or source becomes degraded, disrupted or unavailable.
A particular area of interest is seamless transition or handover between communications links, networks, ground stations or cooperating aircraft, allowing persistent operations to continue without unacceptable interruption. Solutions should minimise aircraft mass, electrical-power consumption and integration burden. AiT is interested both in complete architectures and in enabling technologies capable of forming part of a wider resilient communications and navigation architecture.
Potential approaches might include, but are not limited to, software-defined or adaptive communications, resilient networking, intelligent spectrum management, alternative or complementary PNT, edge processing, autonomous link management, multi-path communications and innovative antenna technologies. These examples are illustrative only; AiT does not wish to prescribe the technical solution.
Solutions should ideally be at TRL 4 or above at the point of application, or demonstrate a credible pathway to an integrated prototype capable of representative testing during the funded development programme. The technology should be capable of progressing to representative ground or flight testing within approximately 12–18 months of the challenge and should demonstrate a credible route towards a commercially deployable aerospace solution within approximately 2–3 years. Technologies originating in non-aerospace sectors are welcomed where their applicability to the operating environment can be demonstrated.
The selected solution provider will be eligible to apply for up to £60,000 of Innovate UK funding to develop the proposed solution towards meeting this challenge. The funding will cover a maximum three-month development project, the detailed scope and deliverables of which will be refined with Advanced Integrated Technologies Ltd as the Challenge Holder.
-
Entrants to this competition must be:
- Established businesses, academic institutions, start-ups, SMEs, or individual entrepreneurs
- UK based or have the intention to set up a UK base
Your project must:
- Have a grant funding request up to £60,000 (eligible costs only)
- Start 1 March 2027 and complete by 31 May 2027
- Carry out its project work in the UK
- Intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
-
- Provide resilient command-and-control connectivity suitable for a persistent autonomous aircraft.
- Support transfer of aircraft, navigation, system-health and mission/payload data.
- Support operation at approximately 60,000–70,000 ft.
- Provide a means of maintaining or rapidly recovering connectivity following degradation or loss of a primary communications path.
- Support automatic or managed transition between alternative communications paths or services.
- Be capable of forming part of a multi-aircraft architecture, including transfer or handover of communications services between cooperating aircraft.
- Minimise size, weight, power consumption and aircraft integration burden.
- Be capable of integration with an autonomous flight and mission-management architecture.
- Offer a credible route towards aerospace-qualified or operationally suitable hardware and software.
- Be scalable beyond a single experimental installation and capable of supporting future production aircraft.
-
Operate within a low-size, weight and power architecture appropriate to a lightweight long-endurance aircraft; provide defined digital interfaces for command, status and mission information; support integration with aircraft flight-control and mission-management systems; provide link/status monitoring and appropriate loss-of-link information; support automatic or software-controlled selection between available communications or navigation sources; support secure communications architectures; provide resilience against interference, congestion, individual link failure or reduced GNSS availability; and provide sufficient technical data to allow performance to be assessed during ground and representative flight testing.
A target architecture should ultimately support useful mission-data throughput while preserving a highly reliable command-and-control channel. AiT is more interested at this stage in resilience, continuity and intelligent management of connectivity than in maximising raw data rate.
-
The solution should be capable of operating, or demonstrate a credible development pathway to operation, in the environmental conditions experienced by an aircraft operating from ground level to approximately 70,000 ft.
Considerations include low atmospheric pressure and density, low ambient temperatures, thermal cycling, solar exposure, vibration, electromagnetic compatibility, aircraft movement and extended continuous operation.
The architecture should be suitable for autonomous operation without routine physical intervention during flight and should tolerate individual communications or navigation services becoming temporarily degraded or unavailable.
Representative development testing may initially be undertaken in laboratory, hardware-in-the-loop, ground or lower-altitude flight environments before progression towards high-altitude demonstration.
-
The following are outside the primary scope of this challenge:
Development of the STRATIS airframe, propulsion system or primary energy system; complete replacement of the aircraft flight-control system; development of payload sensors unrelated to the communications/navigation requirement; solutions dependent upon a single communications or navigation source with no credible resilience mechanism; technologies requiring mass or continuous electrical power incompatible with a lightweight long-endurance aircraft; and solutions that cannot demonstrate a credible pathway towards safe integration into an autonomous aerospace platform.
The challenge is not seeking development of a new satellite constellation or major terrestrial communications infrastructure. Existing infrastructure may, however, form part of a proposed solution.
-
No fixed production unit cost is prescribed at this stage. Solutions must, however, demonstrate a credible pathway towards an economically viable production system appropriate for deployment across multiple aircraft. Applicants should identify anticipated development costs, recurring system costs and any dependence on third-party infrastructure, subscriptions or service charges.
The selected solution provider is expected to undertake a focused funded development project within the Innovation Exchange funding limits.
-
Successful applicants will have the opportunity to pitch their proposed solution to Advanced Integrated Technologies Ltd and Innovate UK Business Connect. A selected solution provider may subsequently be eligible to apply for Innovate UK grant funding to undertake a focused development and demonstration project.
The selected technology will have the opportunity to be evaluated against the STRATIS high-altitude autonomous aircraft requirement, with potential progression towards prototype integration, ground testing and representative flight evaluation.
Subject to successful technical demonstration and subsequent commercial agreement, the technology could become part of the STRATIS aircraft architecture or wider AiT autonomous aerospace developments.
The commercial opportunity is not limited to STRATIS. Technologies capable of providing resilient communications, PNT and mission connectivity at low size, weight and power may have wider applications across unmanned aircraft, future air systems, maritime systems, distributed sensing networks, communications infrastructure and defence.
The successful applicant may also benefit from support from Innovate UK Business Connect, technical engagement with AiT, development of a prototype or pilot, potential commercial collaboration, investor introductions where appropriate and identification of relevant future innovation funding opportunities.
-
- Challenge launch: 5 October 2026
- Deadline for applications: Friday 6 November 2026
- Review of applicants: Monday 9 – Friday 13 November 2026
- Selection and notification of finalists: Friday 13 – Tuesday 17 November 2026
- Pitch Day: Wednesday 25 November – Wednesday 3 December 2026
- Confirm selected solution provider: By Friday 4 December 2026
- Submission to Innovation Funding Service (IFS): December 2026
- Project length: 3 months. (Starting by 1 March 2027 and complete no later than 31 May 2027)