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Nexus Observatory

Pilots: a first site with a customer, every reading compared with what was promised. The loop, step by step: 1. A pilot site fenced off on real terrain. 2. The pilot station starts logging. 3. Each reading is stamped with time and place. 4. Data reaches the pilot’s rack. 5. The relay forwards sealed packets untouched. 6. Signatures are checked before any model runs. 7. A new model is tried against the old one. 8. The edge releases confirmed results only. 9. A storm tests both models in the field. 10. The new model catches the storm earlier. 11. Instruments confirm the response took effect. 12. The pilot report names the gain. 13. The alert arrives with its evidence attached. 14. Record, proof and action are archived together. 15. Everything settles back to idle.

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A pilot site fenced off on real terrain

Nexus Observatory

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Frontier labs

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Pilots
New technology, a real site, a written plan.

Pilots, inside Frontier labs: performance evaluation, uncertainty and calibration reporting, model risk management, AI impact assessment and more. Every item is traced to its specification, from ISO/IEC TS 4213 (classification performance assessment) to ISO/IEC 25059 (quality model for AI systems), and runs on the open Observatory Protocol.

Plan with usArchitectureThe protocol
Technologies
5
At the frontier
0
Protocol functions
3 of 12
Industries served
3

01What it is

Evaluation, model risk and AI governance.

AI from model to accountable operation: edge inference and model optimisation, foundation models for Earth observation and geospatial work, time-series and sensor AI, multimodal fusion and supervised agentic operations, federated and privacy-preserving learning, physical AI and robotics within stated red lines, MLOps, evaluation and model risk, and the governance frameworks that apply to each. Disaggregated, software-defined and AI-assisted radio access: the O-RAN architecture and its open interfaces, 7.2x fronthaul, RAN intelligent controllers with xApps and rApps, SMO and O-Cloud, accelerated L1, shared GPU infrastructure for RAN and AI, AI/ML in the 3GPP air interface, energy saving, and the test and integration work that makes multi-supplier RAN deployable. Each technology below carries what it is, what we do with it, and the standard it is drawn against.

AI systems

Performance evaluation

Task metrics, test design and reporting that show how a model performs and where it does not.

We design and operate.

ISO/IEC TS 4213 (classification performance assessment) · ISO/IEC 25059 (quality model for AI systems)

AI systems

Uncertainty and calibration reporting

Stating uncertainty with each model output so users can weigh it.

We design and operate.

JCGM 100 (Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement) · ISO 19157-1

AI systems

Model risk management

Inventory, tiering, independent validation and ongoing monitoring of models used in decisions.

We design and support.

OSFI Guideline E-23 (model risk management, effective 2027) · US Federal Reserve SR 11-7

AI systems

AI impact assessment

Assessing effects on people and communities before deployment and when use changes.

We design and support.

ISO/IEC 42005 (AI system impact assessment) · Treasury Board of Canada Directive on Automated Decision-Making (Algorithmic Impact Assessment)

AI-RAN and Open RAN

Open testing and integration centre labs

Lab practice in the style of O-RAN OTICs for multi-supplier integration, badging and pre-deployment testing.

We design, integrate and support.

O-RAN Test and Integration Focus Group · O-RAN End-to-End Test Specification

02Architecture

Where it sits, and what it speaks.

Pilots draws on the spectrum below; the highlighted layers carry this area, and the protocol functions it speaks are marked.

Edge inference, model serving and optimisation

10

Foundation models for Earth observation and geospatial

9

Time-series and sensor AI

8

Multimodal fusion and agentic operations

7

Federated and privacy-preserving learning

7

Physical AI and robotics (within red lines)

7

MLOps

7

Evaluation, model risk and AI governance

10

O-RAN architecture and open interfaces

7

Fronthaul (7.2x split) and transport

8

RAN intelligent controllers, xApps and rApps

8

SMO, O-Cloud and accelerated L1

8

AI-RAN: shared accelerated infrastructure

7

AI/ML in the air interface and network management

8

Energy saving and efficiency

6

Testing, integration and security

8

01Join Identity, attestation quote, signed policy.

02Admit Admitted for a stated scope, nothing wider.

03Describe What, where, how and by whom, with calibration.

04Time One clock across the grid, with its error bound.

05Observe Every value with quality and provenance.

06Qualify Tested against the specification, state on record.

07Federate Signed exchange across grids and trust domains.

08Orchestrate Software and configuration by signed plan.

09Correct A correction marks what depends on it and publishes a new version.

10Exchange Products reach people and applications through versioned interfaces.

11Prove Signed proof receipts that an independent verifier can check.

12Exit and decommission An open exit path, and a record that closes.

03On the grid

Every site joins one observing grid.

The open networks on the grid today, over real relief and the geodesic cells we count them into, filtered to the space domain this area serves. A site built here enrols into the same grid.

The observing grid

  1. Open space instruments on the observing grid.

04In the field

Where this runs, sector by sector.

Deployment scenarios from the sector research that rely on pilots.

Scientific

Research-infrastructure gap-filling nodes

Observatory-as-a-service for research infrastructures that must extend coverage under their own quality rules.
Transport

Non-federal automated weather observing for small airports

Aviation-grade stations under the civil-aviation authority's advisory circular; pricing not researched.
Defence-adjacent (civil dual-use)

Research and development route through the defence science programme

A science-and-technology programme on all-domain situational awareness.

05Open and enterprise

Open by default. Enterprise by contract.

The open counterpart lives on the main site for anyone to read and run. The enterprise service is designed, deployed and operated with you, under contract.

Open, on the main site

  • Benchmark methods
  • Pilot reports, published either way

Enterprise, on this site

  • Research pilots
  • Prototype engineering

06The rest of the line

Frontier labs, area by area.

Frontier labs

Benchmarks

Open data, one method, comparable results.
Frontier labs

AI-RAN and 6G

Sensing and communication on shared compute.
Frontier labs

Space and NTN

Direct-to-device and new payloads, tested.
Frontier labs

Physical AI

Drones and robots, inside published red lines.
Frontier labs

Into the product

From a result to a qualified release.

Bring us the site.

Survey, design, deployment and operation for pilots. The form names who receives your details.

Talk to usAsk for a quote

More presentations

See it from every side.

Each opens as a full-screen presentation: deeper pages on the same subject, explainers, stories, guided tours of the places, network scenes and the observatories that came before.

All presentations for this page

In depth

Product or service · Frontier labs PilotsNew technology, a real site, a written planUse case Hybrid air-quality observatoryUse case Citizen seismology nodeUse case Low-cost stream gauge networkUse case Bioacoustic biodiversity observatory

Explainers

Explainer · Environment and climate Environment and climate — SectorsMethane fencelines, acoustic biodiversity grids, flux towers, river sondes and smoke networks: an interactive explainer with the method behind every number.

New technology, a real site, a written plan.

Pilots, inside Frontier labs: performance evaluation, uncertainty and calibration reporting, model risk management, AI impact assessment and more. Every item is traced to its specification, from ISO/IEC TS 4213 (classification performance assessment) to ISO/IEC 25059 (quality model for AI systems), and runs on the open Observatory Protocol.

01What it is

02Architecture

Where it sits, and what it speaks.

03On the grid

04In the field

Where this runs, sector by sector.

05Open and enterprise

Open by default. Enterprise by contract.

The open counterpart lives on the main site for anyone to read and run. The enterprise service is designed, deployed and operated with you, under contract.

Open, on the main site
    Enterprise, on this site
      06The rest of the line

      Bring us the site.