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Sentinel VAS-04 — VAS-04 · Military ISR
VAS-04
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VAS-04 · Military ISR

Eyes above
Ladakh. Anywhere.

Sentinel is Vortex's frontline ISR platform — built for the environments India actually deploys in. 3,500 m+ altitude ceiling, man-portable by a single soldier, and onboard AI that keeps tracking targets when the GCS link goes dark.

Defense (MoD exempt)Ladakh-ratedTRL 6Man-portable
Request Briefing →Specifications
Military ISR · Ladakh-rated
01 / 05
Sentinel VAS-04 top view — compact ISR form factor
Top view · Compact ISR form factor
Airframe Design

Compact enough
for one soldier.
Capable enough
for any mission.

Sentinel's airframe is engineered around the platoon-level deployment constraint: one soldier, one backpack, ten minutes to launch. The compact quad layout folds to vehicle-portable dimensions without sacrificing the structural rigidity demanded by 3,500 m density altitude flight.

Every gram is deliberate. T700 carbon fibre arms. PA12-CF printed motor mounts. The result is a platform that a rifleman can carry, a section commander can operate, and a battalion can maintain.

ConfigurationCompact quadcopter
Frame materialT700 carbon fibre
Motor mountsPA12-CF printed
Deploy time<10 min, one person
TransportSingle soldier backpack
DoctrineAshni platoon aligned
Sentinel altitude-tuned propulsion system
Altitude-Tuned Propulsion

Engineered for
where the air
gets thin.

At 3,500 m the air is 65% the density of sea level — standard props cavitate, standard motors overheat. Sentinel's altitude-tuned carbon fibre props and custom-wound motors are sized for those conditions specifically, not as a footnote.

3,500 m+
Operational altitude (ASL)
38 min
Endurance at altitude
2.4 kg
Max takeoff weight
−25–55°C
Operating temperature
Ladakh altitude validatedAltitude-tuned CF propsMotor-arm ESCs
Sentinel EO/IR camera payload — target acquisition system
EO/IR Payload · Target Acquisition

Sees it first.
Tracks it without you.

Dual EO/IR payload with continuous optical zoom. Onboard YOLOv8 tracks multiple targets simultaneously — no GCS uplink required during terminal phase.

EO + IR
Dual payload
YOLOv8
Onboard detection
Multi-target
Simultaneous tracks
System Architecture

Precision-packed.
Field-serviceable.

Sentinel's internal architecture is designed for the two realities of military deployment: extreme conditions on the way out, and a soldier with basic tools on the way back. Every subsystem is modular, accessible, and swappable in the field.

Sentinel internal cutaway — system layout
Propulsion layer
Power & Motor Control

Motor-arm mounted ESCs at each junction — minimum trace length from battery to motor, maximum thermal spreading across the CF arms. Clean per-arm current control with individual fault isolation for redundancy in the field.

Core avionics plate
Flight Control & Compliance

Cube Orange Plus autopilot with triple-redundant IMUs on a vibration-isolated mount. Drone ID and ADS-B Out modules co-located for full Digital Sky compliance. Compact layout between CF plates leaves nothing exposed.

Compute & comms stack
AI Edge + Data Link

Jetson Orin Nano runs YOLOv8 + ByteTrack target detection entirely onboard — no GCS dependency in the terminal tracking phase. SIYI encrypted air unit for RC + HD video. Network switch ties camera, compute, and link into a single fabric.

Cube Orange Plus
Autopilot · triple IMU
Core plate
Jetson Orin Nano
AI edge compute
Compute stack
SIYI Air Unit
Encrypted RC + HD video
Compute stack
Network Switch
Camera · AI · link fabric
Compute stack
EO/IR Camera
Dual optical payload
Payload bay
Motor-arm ESCs
Per-arm speed control
Prop layer
Drone ID Tag
DGCA Digital Sky
Core plate
ADS-B Out
Airspace broadcast
Core plate
Technical Specifications

Built for Ladakh.
Proven at altitude.

Platform classCompact quadcopter
Altitude ceiling3,500 m+ ASL (Ladakh-rated)
Hover endurance38 min at altitude
Max takeoff weight2.4 kg
PayloadEO / IR / dual-mode
AI computeJetson Orin Nano
Onboard detectionYOLOv8 + ByteTrack
Data linkSIYI encrypted RC + HD
Flight controllerCube Orange Plus
Tethered variantUnlimited endurance
DeploymentMan-portable · <10 min
ProcurementMoD exempt · iDEX / DRDO TDF
Request Briefing →Procurement enquiry
Sentinel packed for deployment on carry case
Field deployment · Man-portable configuration
1 person
Deploy crew
<10 min
Setup time
IP53
Weather rating
Folded
Pack state
Autonomous Intelligence

Tracks when the
link goes dark.

Sentinel's intelligence stack is designed for the reality of forward operations: degraded comms, GPS jamming, and adversarial EW environments. Every critical function — detection, tracking, classification — runs entirely onboard. The GCS is for situational awareness, not survival.

01
No GCS required
YOLOv8 Onboard Detection

Real-time target detection at 30 fps on Jetson Orin Nano — personnel, vehicles, and equipment. Runs entirely onboard at 3,500 m with no GCS uplink requirement. Works in GPS-denied and comms-jammed environments.

02
12 simultaneous tracks
ByteTrack Multi-Target Persistence

ByteTrack multi-object tracker maintains target IDs across occlusion, manoeuvre, and temporary loss of detection. Track up to 12 simultaneous targets. Persistent track output even when target briefly exits camera FOV.

03
EW resistant
Encrypted Full-Spectrum Link

SIYI encrypted RC + HD video downlink. Zero unencrypted telemetry in flight — ground-to-air and air-to-ground both fully secured. Operates on frequency-hopping spread spectrum to resist EW and jamming attempts.

04
Unlimited endurance
Tethered Persistent ISR

Tethered configuration provides unlimited operational endurance at fixed observation height — ideal for forward observation posts, static perimeter, and command-post air picture. Eliminates battery swap logistics entirely.

Procurement

Field Sentinel
for your unit?

Sentinel operates under MoD exemption — no civilian type-certificate required for defense procurement and field trials. Available through iDEX, DRDO TDF, Make-II, and Army Design Bureau pathways.

Ashni doctrine aligned

Sentinel is sized, documented, and C2-interfaced for integration into the Ashni platoon-level drone deployment doctrine — a direct fit with Army Small Unit Unmanned Systems requirements.

iDEX DISCOpen Challenge eligible
DRDO TDFTechnology Dev. Fund
Make-IISuo-Moto / Army initiated
Army Design BureauDirect engagement
MoD exemptionNo TC required
Field trialsAvailable on request
Initiate Procurement →Sentinel-M →
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