TheStrategicCapabilitiesOffice

PERDIXFACTSHEET
DESCRIPTION
Perdix are autonomous microdrones capable of lowaltitude Intelligence,
Surveillance,andReconnaissance(ISR)andothermissions.Theycanbeair,sea
orgroundlaunchedandoperateinbothsmallandlargeswarmstoperformtheir
missions.

DETAILS
HISTORY

Perdix was developed by MIT

LincolnLaboratoryin2013basedon
an initial design from MITs
AeroAstroDepartment.Ithasbeen
successivelyupgradedbySCOusing
allcommercial components, 3D
printing, and agile manufacturing.
Over670havebeenflowntodate.

WHATSINANAME?
In Greek mythology, the student
Perdix was saved from sure death
whenAthenatransformedhiminto
asmallbirdafterhisjealousuncle,
Daedalus,pushedhimfromatower.
Similarly,Perdixmustquicklylearn
toflyafterbeingreleasedfromU.S.
fighters.

PASTTESTS
InSeptember2014,PerdixwasfirstairdroppedfromF16flarecanistersbythe
AirForceTestPilotSchoolatEdwardsAirForceBase.
In September 2015, 90 Perdix missions were flown during U.S. Pacific
Commands Northern Edge exercise in Alaska. These included ground and
maritimesurveillancemissions,aswellasoneofthefirstswarmscontaining20
drones.

SWARMINGVICESYNCHRONIZING
Perdix are not preprogrammed, synchronized individuals. They share a
distributed brain for decisionmaking and adapt to each other, and the
environment,muchlikeswarmsinnature.BecauseeveryPerdixcommunicates
and collaborates with every other Perdix, the swarm has no leader and can
gracefully adapt to changes in drone numbers. This allows this team of small
inexpensivedronestoperformmissionsoncedonebylargeexpensiveones.

Propellers:2.6in
Body:6.5in
Wingspan:11.8in
Weight:290g
Endurance:>20min
Airspeed:>4060kts

HOWARETHEYCONTROLLED?
Controlling 100 drones individually
wouldbeoverwhelming,somuchlikea
sportcoach,operatorscallplays(e.g.,
surveilling a field) and Perdix decides
howbesttorunthem.BecausePerdix
cannot change their plays, operators
can predict the swarms behavior
withouthavingtomicromanageit.

GENERATION
Perdix software and hardware is
successively updated in design
generations much like smartphones.
The vehicle is currently on its sixth
generation,whichincludesanimproved
canister and an injectionmolded
fuselage.

THEBIGSWARM

WHATSNEXT?

InOctober2016,SCO,NavalAirSystems
Command, and MIT LincolnLaboratory
deployed a swarm of 103 Perdix from
three F/A18 Super Hornets at China
Lake,
California.
This
swarm
demonstrated advanced behaviors like
collective decisionmaking, adaptive
formationflying,andselfhealing.

AsSCOworkstransitiontotheServices,
it is also partnering with the Defense
Industrial UnitExperimental (DIUx) to
find companies capable of rapidly
building 1,000 units this year. SCO is
also working on the Gen 7 design,
whichwilllikelyincludemoreadvanced
autonomy.