COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, Apr 21, 2025 – Aitech has introduced the picosatellite (PicoSat) constellation platform, IQSat. The IQSat is AI-enabled and includes AI and ML from Intuidex, Inc. incorporated in Intuidex’s Watchman for Space (W4S) product for detecting patterns and anomalies for a range of applications, including public safety, agriculture, military, defense, climate, biology and more.
Built on Aitech’s 30-year history in electronics and space missions, Built on Aitech’s 30-year history in electronics and space missions, the IQSat is a compact, palm-sized satellite designed for deployment in constellations ranging from five to several thousand units. IQSat provides global coverage and delivers pattern-of-life analysis from various locations on Earth with speed and regularity.
“Space-based infrastructure solves big problems and fuels big advancements on Earth. The new IQSat platform is integral to space accessibility by delivering low cost, rapid deployment constellations that provide access to actionable information quickly and frequently for infinite applications,” said Pratish Shah, U.S. general manager, Aitech. “Whether used for military and defense, environmental or agricultural applications, communications or scientific research, the flexibility, cost and availability of a solution like IQSat has not existed before – providing more accessibility to the power of space.”
Leveraging Using Intuidex’s Watchman for Space product, the IQSat offers Higher-Order Low-Resource Learning (HO-LRL) to support user-based modeling, detection and tracking, pattern of life and anomaly detection, and constellation operations. These capabilities enable new uses across a range of markets, like:
- Military and Defense: With a low probability of intercept and detection, IQSat can deliver comprehensive information on threat locations, directions and velocities in any area of interest at significant update rates to the warfighter
- Space Situational Awareness: IQSat uses flexible sensors and constellation configurations to offer an affordable way to spot space debris. This helps avoid space collisions and monitor orbital traffic. The system also finds changes in satellite paths and can pick up on possible anti-satellite threats.
- Space Habitat: Placed in the vicinity of Space Habitats, IQSat can deliver temperature, radiation levels and other data variables to evaluate structure integrity by detecting micro-meteorite impacts and material degradation or external surveillance to detect space debris collision threats.
- Public Safety: A low-cost LEO constellation of IQSat can provide detection of remote areas to identify natural disasters; assist in remote search and rescue operations through detection of objects, locations and movement directly to the rescuer; or monitor infrastructure surveillance of dams, and bridges.
- Agriculture: IQSat provides prompt insights on soil, crops, disease, and weather conditions to help farmers improve crop output.
- Science and Research: A constellation of IQSats offers scientists an affordable way to track weather patterns, follow animal migrations around the globe, and monitor ocean currents.
IQSat provides affordable constellation design, reducing delivery time and costs associated with developing custom sensing satellites and setups. Using Watchman for Space, IQSat updates all detection priorities – such as incidents, events, objects, or threats – based on user-driven software and configuration uploads. It also features a standard payload interface that supports multiple payload types on a single electrical and mechanical platform. This simplifies design, reduces non-recurring engineering (NRE) work, and speeds up time to launch.
The IQSat platform will be available in Q4 2025 for mission development and ready for LEO flight in Q1 2026. Based on mission needs, the IQSat offers:
- Small size and ruggedized, standardized design for low-cost access to space
- Rapid development and deployment to create constellations in months
- Flexible sensor options to meet a range of mission needs
- The latest relevant information from areas of interest in minutes, with a constellation of thousands, frequent revisit rates and human-in-the-loop management in Watchman for Space
- High accuracy pattern of life and anomaly detection of incidents, events and items of interest through on-board AI/ML processing capabilities using HO-LRL
- Low uplink and downlink bandwidth utilization for rapid delivery of critical information directly to the point of need
Source: Aitech
About Aitech
Aitech Systems, founded in 1983, is a provider of rugged embedded computing solutions for military, aerospace, and space applications. Headquartered in Chatsworth, CA, the company offers products like single board computers, GPU-based AI systems, I/O boards, memory modules, and integrated subsystems to operate in harsh environments. Serving industries such as defense, aerospace, and space exploration, Aitech is a pioneer in developing radiation-tolerant and AI-enabled technologies for mission-critical operations. With over four decades of experience, the company has contributed to programs like NASA missions and defense projects. As of Jan, 2025, Aitech Systems reported an annual revenue of approximately $75 million and employs around 265 professionals worldwide.