The RustVector enforcement kernel. A MAVLink-native edge relay that evaluates every frame against deterministic rules before it reaches the autopilot.
Sentinel is four Rust crates composed in strict layers. Each crate has a single responsibility and cannot reach into a layer it does not own. The kernel enforces governance at the edge with zero cloud dependency.
Every MAVLink frame is evaluated against these rules. Geofence boundary enforcement is live in Sentinel v0.2; remaining rules are specified and stubbed in code.
Bounding-box containment on GLOBAL_POSITION_INT. Position outside the authorized corridor is denied and logged as GEOFENCE_DENY.
Maximum drift from authorized path. Lateral and vertical deviation computed against the planned trajectory at each waypoint segment.
Minimum charge for return-to-home. Continuous evaluation against remaining capacity and distance to home point.
Hard upper bound enforcement. AGL altitude checked against the authorized ceiling on every telemetry frame.
Mission temporal boundaries. Operations are only authorized within the briefed time window. Outside the window is a violation.
Prohibited airspace exclusion. Known restricted areas evaluated as negative geofences. Proximity triggers escalation.
Return-to-home energy guarantee. Separate from battery reserve. Ensures sufficient energy to reach the designated landing zone.
Principal authorization requirement. Validates that the active operator has the required authorization level for the current mission phase.
Every evaluation produces exactly one of three verdicts. There is no fourth option. There is no grey area.
Action within all rule boundaries. Permitted without operator intervention. Frame forwarded to autopilot. Verdict logged with full evaluation trace.
Action violates one or more rules. Denied immediately. Frame blocked from reaching autopilot. Logged with violation detail and rule identifiers.
Action within boundaries but exceeds auto-approve threshold. Frame held pending explicit principal decision. Timeout enforced by risk tier.
Every verdict is logged with full evaluation trace. Which rules fired, in what order, with what result. The audit trail records the complete decision path, not just the outcome.
Governance at wire speed means zero compromise between safety and latency. Every frame evaluated, every verdict logged, every session replayable.
Transparent MAVLink v2 forwarding with zero-copy parsing. Governance enforcement at wire speed.
Append-only log with SHA256 hash chain. Every frame logged without blocking the relay pipeline.
Deterministic replay of any audit log produces identical state transitions. Every time.
Every MAVLink frame logged and hashed. No sampling. No gaps. Complete chain of custody.
Sentinel exposes three subcommands. Each maps to a core capability of the governance engine. No configuration files. No dashboards. Just the CLI.
Start the MAVLink proxy with governance enforcement. Binds to a UDP port, evaluates every frame against the active rule set, forwards permitted frames to the autopilot. Denied frames are blocked and logged.
Replay an audit log file deterministically. Reproduce the exact sequence of evaluations and verdicts from a previous session. Verify that the same inputs produce the same outputs.
Verify hash chain integrity of an audit log. Walk the chain from first entry to last. Any break in the hash sequence indicates tampering or corruption.
Sentinel's architecture aligns with the direction of emerging regulatory and procurement requirements for autonomous drone operations. Deterministic enforcement and tamper-evident audit trails are designed as architectural primitives.
Proposed BVLOS frameworks point toward requirements for machine-enforceable geofencing and auditable decision trails. Sentinel provides both as architectural primitives.
Growing legislative emphasis on machine-readable, enforceable geofence boundaries. Sentinel evaluates polygon containment on every telemetry frame with full audit trail.
Defense procurement increasingly emphasizes deterministic, auditable governance for autonomous systems. Sentinel's replay capability enables post-mission verification of every decision.
Sentinel v0.2 denies GLOBAL_POSITION_INT frames outside the configured bounding box. Clone, build, and run against PX4 SITL — see the repo DEMO.md and docs/DEMO_VIDEO.md.
Sentinel is one layer of the Flightworks governance stack. Understand how the SwiftVector kernel, FlightLaw, and the Watch Station principal interface compose into a complete mission governance platform.