Tactical Awareness & Land Operating System
TALOS delivers real-time tactical situational awareness engineered for the modern battlefield. Built from the ground up with interoperability and performance at its core, TALOS empowers commanders and operators with the information they need — when they need it.
From multi-source map tiles and live data connectors to full MIL-STD-2525D / APP-6D military symbology, TALOS provides a complete Battlespace Management System (BMS) for GVA platforms.
Key Capabilities
Multi-Source Mapping
Satellite, topographic, terrain, street, and nautical charts with offline tile serving for disconnected operation. Pre-cache your area of operations before deployment.
Military Symbology
Full MIL-STD-2525D / APP-6D symbol rendering with interactive radial menus for edit, annotate, move, and delete. Point dropper for placing tactical symbols.
Weather Intelligence
Real-time rain radar and cloud/satellite imagery overlays from RainViewer. See precipitation and cloud cover directly on your tactical display.
Offline Operation
Integrated tile server pre-caches map data for fully disconnected operation. Mission-ready without network connectivity.
Satellite
Map
Real-time aircraft tracking from ADS-B transponder data. Overlay airspace boundaries, restricted zones, and weather simultaneously.
Automatic Identification System tracking for maritime vessel monitoring. Display vessel name, course, speed, type, and flag state.
GTFS Realtime protocol integration for bus, train, tram, light rail, and ferry tracking. Useful for civil-military coordination exercises.
Modular connector architecture allows adding new data sources without code changes. Enable and disable connectors in real-time.
Real-time weather overlays including rain radar (RADAR) and cloud/satellite (infrared) imagery from RainViewer.
BSI Flex 335 v2.0 autonomous sensor integration. SAPIENT shifts intelligence to the edge — each sensor performs local processing and transmits only detection results, minimising bandwidth in contested environments. Supports radar, acoustic, optical, and AI-based classification with confidence scoring.
Data Agnostic Architecture
TALOS is designed with a data agnostic philosophy, ensuring maximum flexibility and future-proofing. Connect any source, any format — no vendor lock-in.
| Connector | Protocol | Transport | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPX RADAR | Cambridge Pixel Binary | UDP Multicast | RADAR track reports from Cambridge Pixel systems |
| SAPIENT | BSI Flex 335 v2.0 | TCP Protobuf | Autonomous sensor integration (AI, RADAR) |
| CoT | Cursor on Target XML | TCP/Multicast | TAK ecosystem integration (ATAK, WinTAK) |
| NMEA | NMEA 0183 | Serial/TCP | GPS position data |
| ADS-B | OpenSky REST | HTTP/JSON | Real-time aircraft positions |
| AIS | AIS Messages | WebSocket | Maritime vessel tracking |
| GTFS | GTFS Realtime | HTTP/Protobuf | Public transit vehicle positions |
| JSON File | Custom JSON | File System | Static position data with live monitoring |
| LDM | Land Data Model v10 | DDS | GVA vehicle/unit positions |
TALOS + HERMES: Unified Battlespace Communications
TALOS and HERMES are designed to work as an integrated system — combining tactical situational awareness with secure encrypted communications in a single, cohesive platform. When deployed together, operators get a complete command and control capability without leaving their tactical display.
Voice-Driven Map Commands
The HERMES AI Agent understands TALOS map coordinates. Operators can issue voice commands like:
- "Show me grid reference 56HLH1234567890"
- "What's the bearing from my position to the contact?"
- "Calculate distance between waypoint Alpha and Bravo"
The AI agent uses MCP tools to perform MGRS lookups, bearing/distance calculations, and coordinate conversions — then responds with spoken answers via the HERMES VoIP client.
Shared Tactical Context
TALOS and HERMES share the same DDS data bus (DEF STAN 23-009 LDM v10), enabling:
- Position sharing — TALOS publishes own-ship position that HERMES includes in status messages
- Contact reports — Voice reports from HERMES can be correlated with TALOS tracks
- Common operating picture — Both systems reference the same registered entities via GVA Registry
- Unified logging — Call detail records (CDR) and track history stored together for post-mission analysis
Single HMI, Dual Capability
Both TALOS and HERMES render within the VivoeX GVA HMI as third-party extensions:
- F28 (BMS) — TALOS tactical map with full symbology
- F7 (COM) — HERMES encrypted voice and messaging
Operators switch instantly between mapping and communications without launching separate applications. Both are registered via the GVA Registry Service and respect the active HMI theme.
CoT/TAK Bridge
TALOS ingests Cursor-on-Target (CoT) messages from TAK Server — the same infrastructure used by ATAK and WinTAK. Combined with HERMES secure voice:
- Receive SA updates from dismounted ATAK users
- Correlate voice communications with blue force tracking
- Bridge between GVA vehicle systems and the wider TAK ecosystem
- Maintain encrypted comms while displaying allied positions
Military Symbology (APP-6D / MIL-STD-2525D)
TALOS renders military symbols according to APP-6D (NATO Joint Military Symbology) and MIL-STD-2525D standards. Symbols communicate critical battlefield information at a glance.
| Symbol Set | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Land Unit | Ground combat & support units | Infantry, Armor, Artillery, Engineer |
| Land Equipment | Ground vehicles & weapons | Tanks, APCs, Missile Launchers |
| Air | Aircraft, helicopters, UAVs | Fighter, Bomber, Transport, Recon |
| Sea Surface | Naval vessels & craft | Carriers, Destroyers, Frigates, Patrol |
| Sea Subsurface | Submarines & underwater | SSN, SSBN, UUV, Mines |
| Land Installation | Fixed facilities | Airports, Bases, Hospitals, Ports |
Each symbol encodes affiliation (Friend/Hostile/Neutral/Unknown), battle dimension, entity type, and status using standardized 20-character Symbol Identification Codes (SIDC).
Platform & Deployment
| Platform | Architecture | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04 LTS | x86_64 (AMD64) | ✅ Full Support |
| Embedded Linux | ARM64 (AArch64) | ✅ Full Support |
| Real-time OS | x86_64 / ARM64 | ✅ Available |
Deployment Modes:
- GVA HMI Third-Party App — Renders within VivoeX as BMS functional area (F28)
- Standalone Application — Full-featured desktop application with floating toolbar
- Headless Tile Server — Dedicated map caching service for disconnected environments
Dependencies: Qt 6.2+, OpenSSL 3.0, CMake 3.20+, DDS middleware
Why Choose TALOS?
No Vendor Lock-In
Data agnostic architecture with open protocols. Your data remains portable and accessible — never trapped in proprietary silos.
Full-Stack Integration
Part of the complete GVA software stack including VivoeX HMI, HERMES comms, MediaX video, and Astute DDS middleware.
Get Started with TALOS
TALOS is available as part of the VivoeX SDK or as a standalone tactical display application. Contact us for a demonstration of real-time battlespace management.