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NDAA

Overview

As of 2024, NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) hardware is required for drone operations in the United States in certain locations. BlueUAS is a program to certify hardware and simplify the procurement process. In late 2025, the FCC increased the restrictions in conjunction with the 2025 NDAA act, banning non-NDAA hardware going forward. In early 2026, the FCC clarified that custom drones with BlueUAS components are permitted as long as domestic components exceed 65 percent of the total cost of the finished product.

  • Cube Orange+ -- We build software to communicate with OrangeCube (H7+) flight controllers (Ardupilot/PX4) using standard telemetry protocols (Mavlink2) via an onboard companion computer (Raspberry Pi w/ optional 4G uplink) running a custom linux distribution. We can install this low-SWaP navigation stack on NDAA-compliant drone systems to provide backup analytics and telemetry. Bi-directional communication allows us to plan, distribute and coordinate missions from a central dashboard. We use our platform to calibrate and capture data from different sensor platforms locally in order to synchronize post-flight (w/ ad-hoc networks) with the backend. From there, we can generate a map and apply custom AI models for advanced analytics. We also provide an offline version of our software that can be run in air-gapped environments to monitor devices and build maps in the field.

NDAA hardware companies

  • 3DR -- US made drone and radio hardware.
  • NWBlue -- NDAA drone hardware vendor.
  • Lumenier -- NDAA drone hardware vendor.
  • ModalAI -- PX4 developer kits, using Qualcomm processors with support for running TFLite models.
  • Wingtra -- Advanced VTOL surveying drone platform.
  • Ebee-X -- Advanced surveying drone platform.
  • GreenSight -- Agriculture drone platform.
  • AeroCogito -- Affordable flight controllers (H7).
  • Auterion -- Advanced flight controllers with integrated cellular networking and Jetson (NVidia) integration.
  • ARK Electronics -- Advanced flight controllers (M7) with Raspberry Pi/Jetson integrations and RTK support.
  • Tycho Voyager -- A low-SWaP autonomy stack for navigation.