BadB
Overview
Badb is an EU-funded defence research project focused on UxV autonomy in contested areas. The project addresses scenarios where GNSS signals are unavailable, jammed, or spoofed, and other radio communication may be difficult or dangerous.
Modern operations — both military and civilian — depend heavily on accurate positioning. When satellite signals are compromised, alternative approaches are needed to maintain operational effectiveness.
Rigr AI’s Role
Rigr AI contributes to the software, simulation and machine learning aspects of Badb.
Interactive simulators
Alongside the project work, Rigr builds lightweight, deterministic browser simulations to make the operational questions behind Badb concrete — layered air defence, sensor warning depth, and counter-UAS protection of ground forces. Both run in any modern browser, replay deterministically from a seed, and pair every run with a written analysis and a same-seed counterfactual:
- Air Defence Allocation Sim — the strategic trade-off between fixed point defence, mobile combat air patrol, and saturation precision strike. When target value spreads out, defence must become mobile, networked, and able to concentrate against the main attack.
- Convoy Protection Overwatch Sim — defending a small armoured patrol against drone ambush from close terrain. The treeline sets the sensor horizon, saturation defeats Pk, and the engagement that decides the fight has to happen above the trees.
Both are abstract models: no real-world systems, weapons, or performance figures.
Applications
The technologies developed under Badb have dual-use applications across multiple domains:
- Defence operations — maintaining navigation capability in contested electromagnetic environments, enabling ISR and other mission types
- Border security — resilient drones to enhance border surveillance and control
- Emergency services — enabling drone use in civil spaces where anti-drone systems may also be in use (policing, the prison service, etc.)
Protected Documentation
The following documentation is available to vetted partners and authorised organisations.
Defence & Intelligence Annex
Technical architecture, GNSS-denied navigation methods, and deployment specifications for defence environments.