AI FPV Hover Module

The AI FPV Hover Module is a companion computer developed by Abto Software , a Lviv-based software house whose defence division has moved from commercial computer-vision work into navigation and terminal-guidance aids for Ukrainian FPV drones. First shown in 2023, the module sits alongside a standard racing airframe’s flight controller and takes over stabilisation when the drone’s satellite lock or radio link degrades — the everyday operating condition for Ukrainian FPV pilots working under Russian electronic warfare.

The core function is visual-inertial hold. An onboard camera feeds frames into a vision pipeline that estimates the drone’s motion against the ground below, and the module writes corrective throttle, pitch and yaw commands to the flight controller. Abto has designed the module to speak two flight-stack dialects rather than tie operators to one firmware: MSP for Betaflight , the dominant stack on Ukrainian-built racing FPVs, and MAVLink for ArduPilot . According to the manufacturer, the payload weighs around 200 grams, holds position between 30 and 500 metres above ground, and tolerates winds up to 12 metres per second. Abto has not publicly named the specific onboard compute board or the vision models it runs, and the vendor’s own datasheet is the primary source for the numbers above — a caveat worth noting given how contested drone-autonomy performance claims tend to be.

The immediate customer is Ukraine, where the module has been demonstrated in combat conditions. Its usefulness rests on the electronic-warfare problem. Russian jamming routinely denies GPS to attacking drones, and pilots frequently lose the video downlink on the last leg of a strike; a drone that can hold or continue on inertial and visual data rather than tumbling out of the sky is a survivable one. Ukrainian FPV programmes have integrated a range of similar autonomy aids from local software houses, and Abto’s module is one of the computer-vision options in that ecosystem.

Abto positions the hover module as one element of a wider vision toolkit that also includes terminal target-lock and object-tracking components, so the same companion computer that holds the drone steady can, in adjacent configurations, take over the final seconds of a run against a moving target. The software is developed and updated independently of the flight-controller firmware, which lets fielded aircraft absorb changes without swapping electronics.