DIU Blue sUAS - Alta X

DIU Blue sUAS - Alta X

The Freefly Systems Alta X has been approved by the Defense Innovation Unit and was added to the Blue sUAS List. Freefly offers the original Alta X, Alta X (Blue Cube), and a Alta X (DIU Blue Package).

Aircraft	Blue Compliant	Hand Controller	Flight Computer
Alta X	N	Futaba / User Supplied	Black Cube
Alta X (Blue Cube)	Y	User Supplied	Blue Cube (F4)
Alta X (DIU Blue Package)	Y	Pilot Pro w/ RFD900	Blue Cube (F4)

The original Alta X

Uses a Black Cube flight computer. This aircraft was developed and released in 2019 prior to the DIU Blue sUAS program.

The Alta X (Blue Cube)

Uses an NDAA compliant Blue Cube flight computer assembled in the U.S.A. This flight computer uses identical hardware as the Black Cube (original Alta X). The Alta X (Blue Cube) aircraft also utilizes specialized firmware that has been vetted and approved by DIU.

• Note: The Blue Cube is equipped with firmware that permanently disables WiFi and Bluetooth to comply with DIU Blue requirements and can only have Blue qualified firmware installed from the factory.

• Note: Alta X (Blue Cube) PN: 950-00112 does not include a hand controller. You can purchase a controller separately or provide your own.

• Note: Alta X (Blue Cube) and Alta X (DIU Blue Package) are NOT and will NOT be FAA Remote ID compliant from the factory.

Alta X (DIU Blue Package)

Includes the Alta X (Blue Cube) described above, as well as a Pilot Pro controller with an RFD 900X telemetry radio. This encrypted radio sends and receives MAVlink telemetry and control inputs to/from the aircraft.

• The Alta X DIU Blue Package, as it ships from Freefly, conforms to the exact Authority to Operate (ATO) configuration approved by DIU. For more information about Alta X and Blue sUAS 2.0, check out the DIU website here, and the approval press release here.
• As part of the Blue sUAS program, the Alta X is under strict revision control and updates in firmware or hardware will only be released after review from DIU.

• More information on DIU Blue sUAS Program can be found on the DIU Website here.
• More information on how to operate the Alta X with the Pilot Pro controller can be found in this wiki article
• Limitations:

  • Freefly RTK does not currently work on the Alta X DIU Blue Package.

  • FRX Pro does not currently work on the Alta X DIU Blue Package.

  • We are not able to modify the Alta X DIU Blue Package in any way from how it's described here.
  • The Alta X DIU Blue Package is not FAA Remote ID compliant.

• Important Security Guidelines for the User: To reduce the cyber vulnerability and increase the security of the system we recommend the following:

  • Logs: Aircraft flight logs are crucial for analysis in the events where logs are needed for technical support. However having logs enabled also pose vulnerability. If drone is intercepted mid-mission, and attacker gains physical access to drone, user can access unencrypted logs without authentication via physical access to drone, and can get current mission plan and logs. To address this vulnerability, you can set SDLOG_MODE parameter to -1 to fully disable logging.

  • Radio: The UXV tablet comes with password authentication to access the tablet. However the drone may still be armed using the joysticks without needing to access he tablet. To address this vulnerability, you can enable power to the radio using the installed RFD app upon every tablet login, then disable power after each use before shutting down the system.