Edge AI and Predictive Analytics Added to DropBlock Satellite Communications Platform to Deliver Situational Awareness
Lakewood and Aurora, Colo (June 8, 2026) – RoGO Communications, the creator of the DropBlock satellite communications platform for cellular-denied environments, today announced a technology partnership with Augmented Sense Technologies (AugSense), an edge AI company, to integrate artificial intelligence capabilities directly into RoGO’s communications infrastructure.
RoGO, a company founded to develop lifesaving technology for wildland firefighters and first responders, is the creator of DropBlock, a ruggedized, portable satellite communications platform that provides real-time GPS tracking, weather telemetry, IoT sensor data, and tactical messaging in cellular-denied and remote environments.
AugSense develops edge AI systems purpose-built for communications-denied and contested environments. The company was the first-place winner at the Air Force Research Laboratory–sponsored HUSTLE Accelerator, receiving a $155,000 award to advance edge AI for command, control, and communications applications.
The partnership will develop edge AI-powered sensor fusion, Team Awareness Kit (TAK) ecosystem development, and predictive analytics to firefighters, disaster recovery, military and other first responders and remote operators, including All Hazards emergencies such as hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. Last month, RoGO and AugSense presented the combined capabilities at the annual convention for Special Operation Forces (SOF Week) in Tampa.
Wildland firefighters, search-and-rescue teams, and military personnel routinely operate in remote terrain where conventional communications infrastructure does not exist. RoGO’s DropBlock technology has proven its ability to deliver real-time GPS tracking, weather data, IoT sensor telemetry, and tactical messaging over satellite links in these environments—deployed today by wildland fire agencies. As missions grow more complex and sensor-rich, operators increasingly need more than raw data. AI can deliver intelligence at the edge, delivered in real time, without dependence on connectivity.
Through this partnership, RoGO will enhance its platform with AugSense’s edge AI engine, a modular, platform-agnostic system that processes and fuses multi-modal sensor data directly on devices, without requiring a cloud connection. The AI-enriched intelligence products will transform raw sensor feeds into actionable decisions, such as predictions for the spread of a wildfire or other threats to safety.
Edge AI Capabilities Integration into RoGO’s Platform
Edge AI Processing: AugSense’s engine runs AI workloads directly on edge devices using neuromorphic and spiking neural network architectures, achieving greater energy efficiency than conventional approaches. This means intelligence processing in power-constrained environments—no cloud, no data center, no latency.
Multi-Modal Sensor Fusion: AugSense’s fusion engine synthesizes data from diverse sensors (RF, weather, geospatial, physiological, and chemical/biological) into a single actionable intelligence picture at the edge.
TAK Integration & Development: Purpose-built plugins for the Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK) and broader TAK ecosystem that overlay AI-fused intelligence onto the common operating picture, enhancing coordination across distributed teams connected through RoGO’s DropBlock network.
Predictive Analytics: Machine learning models that transform raw sensor telemetry into forward-looking predictions such as anticipating weather shifts, equipment failures, threat patterns, and fire behavior.
AugSense’s HUSTLE award focused specifically on edge AI for contested and degraded operational environments, precisely the conditions where RoGO’s DropBlock technology is already deployed and proven. The Command, Control and Communications Battle Management (C3BM) problem statement validated a critical capability gap: the need for intelligent processing at the point of need when cloud connectivity is unavailable or denied. This partnership is a direct response to that demand signal.
“We built DropBlock to solve the communications problem in places where nothing else works—and our customers in wildfire, search-and-rescue, and defense have validated that mission,” said RoGO founder and CEO Rod Goossen. “The next step is making that link smarter. With AugSense’s edge AI, we’re not just transmitting data—we’re transmitting intelligence. That’s a game-changer for an incident commander who needs to make a life-or-death call with seconds to spare.”
A new RoGO mobile phone app expected to be released in Q3 2026 enables point-to-point communications among DropBlocks and firefighter crews and displays the location of firefighting assets along with fire weather data.
AugSense Co-Founder and President Anant Singh said, “RoGO has already solved the hardest problem in denied environments: getting reliable communications where nothing else reaches. What we bring is the ability to turn that link into an intelligent pipeline. Our edge AI processes and fuses sensor data on device, so operators get real-time predictions and a unified picture, not just raw data points. Combined with RoGO’s proven satellite backbone and our research in contested environments, this partnership delivers AI-powered situational awareness to the people who need it most, in the places where it’s hardest to get.”
Immediate Applications
The combined solution targets several high-impact use cases. In wildland firefighting, the integration enables AI-predicted wind shifts and fire behavior models to reach incident commanders via RoGO’s satellite network—critical for crew safety decisions. For search-and-rescue operations, fused sensor data and intelligent mapping overlays allow distributed teams to coordinate effectively through the DropBlock network without relying on cellular infrastructure. In defense and special operations, the partnership delivers fused multi-sensor intelligence and TAK-integrated common operating pictures over satellite backhaul in contested and communications-degraded environments.
About RoGO Communications
RoGO Communications, a company founded to develop lifesaving technology for firefighters and first responders following the tragic deaths of 19 firefighters in the Yarnell Hill Fire, provides an advanced satellite integrated communication platform to enable tactical communications and collaboration, access scene-critical situational awareness data and track location and movement of wildland firefighting crews and equipment in remote areas where cellular service is often not available. Combining these abilities provides a Common Operational Picture (COP) for all firefighters. RoGO Communications services also support first responders after disasters including hurricanes and floods. For more information, please visit www.rogocom.com.
About AugSense
AugSense develops platform-agnostic edge AI for defense and critical infrastructure. The company’s core capabilities span multi-modal sensor fusion, neuromorphic and spiking neural network processing, TAK ecosystem integration, RF signal classification, and predictive analytics. AugSense was selected for the AFRL HUSTLE Accelerator (Cohort 5) and maintains active engagements with USSOCOM, AFRL, and allied defense partners. The company is headquartered in Colorado. For more information, please visit www.augsensetech.com.
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