Now available for iOS on the App Store! and on Google Play for Android soon. Check Now

This section describes both current and near-term capabilities of the SIGHTER app. The information here is not critical for normal users to know, but may be to others wanting a deeper dive into SIGHTER’s operation.

When a “first-user” visually detects a UAP, the user launches SIGHTER and the app immediately begins to collect key initial data, including videographic images and azimuth from the user’s position to the UAP along the horizontal plane.

The first user is prompted to input the approximate distance to the UAP from their position before issuing an alert. This is a guess in the best case, and accuracy is not critical. When multiple users are engaged, triangulation and azimuth intersecting are used to determine the UAP’s location and horizontal distance from each user.

By manually inputting the initial estimated distance to the UAP, the user has  enabled SIGHTER to estimate the UAP’s position from each engaged user. When the first user sends an alert, transmitting the estimated distance and azimuth to subsequent users’ SIGHTER app, SIGHTER calculates the azimuth and distance from the subsequent alerted user(s) location to the UAP to allow them to visually acquire the UAP. With the exception of shifting or adjusting their sighting position to mitigate sighting obstacles that might block, degrade or obscure their view of the UAP, it is not required that the alerted SIGHTER user physically travel to a more visually advantageous location in order to optimize their sighting.

The sighting is assigned a unique ID by SIGHTER. This ID is used to combine data from all users participating in the sighting.

With the exception of two assisted prompts requiring input from the users during the sighting, SIGHTER is as simple as “point and shoot”.

When the first user utilizes the SIGHTER app to send an alert to other users, the app leverages their real-time location data and proximity to the UAP to automatically determine the users to notify. SIGHTER employs user pre-set alert distance radius to do this. Users are not responsible for manually selecting or deciding which additional users should receive the alert. The app utilizes the push notification capability of their smartphones to issue alerts.

Upon receiving the alert, (along with guessed distance and measured azimuth from the first sighter), additional sighters are guided along a projected azimuth from their location to the UAP, visually acquire the UAP, and begin to capture data on the sighting. These sighters in turn can issue more alerts to more sighters (swarming).

A locating map is provided when a user taps a UAP alert. The map shows two azimuths, which when easily aligned by the user by rotation, faces the user directly along the horizontal azimuth to the UAP’s current known position.

To more accurately determine the precise location and track the trajectory of the UAP during the sighting, multiple users must be engaged. SIGHTER utilizes the sighting reticle on its recording screen to enhance the accuracy of azimuth alignment. This is used to create azimuth intersections (from users 2 thru n) which locate the UAP on the horizontal plane. Additionally, the app performs polling of the smartphones’ compasses to obtain the shifting azimuths to the UAP during the sighting, which is synchronized with the smartphones’ clocks. By combining these inputs, SIGHTER will dynamically intersect multiple azimuths to the UAP’s position as it moves. Post-sighting data processing will then be able to reconstruct the path of UAP travel during the sighting.

Once the horizontal position of UAP has been determined by azimuth intersecting, SIGHTER will estimate the elevation angle of the UAP from user’s positions using the system’s inclinometer. No input is required from the user. This angle represents the vertical measurement. By combining the estimated distance and elevation angle information, SIGHTER will approximate the UAP’s AGL (Above Ground Level) altitude.

These processes will enable SIGHTER to dynamically establish both the vertical and horizontal positions of the UAP in space during the sighting.

When subsequent users are alerted to the UAP sighting, validation of the sighting as an anomalous event can be performed by polling subsequent users requesting opinion as to the validity of the UAP sighting. Employing user location information, the app will poll users as to the anomalous nature of the sighting. The app will record users’ response, making it part of the sighting’s records. In this way, sightings can be screened and flagged, as non-anomalous. When in real time the sightings is determined to be false, the app can prevent additional alert notifications being made against the sighting’s unique ID number.

Once all data is captured by participating sighters, it is uploaded to SIGHTER’s servers where it can be reviewed, analyzed, and curated.

SIGHTER has accounted for the fact that false positive sightings will occur due to the nature of detecting and visually recording UAP. However, SIGHTER aims to discourage the intentional creation of false positive sightings or deliberately issuing false alerts.

Sightings that are identified as false positives can be kept as a reference to assist in the identification of future false positive sightings. In addition, SIGHTER  may utilize methods, processes or analytical tools such as real-time sighter polling, cross referencing of metadata and other strategies to detect both accidentally and deliberately created false positive sightings.

As part of SIGHTER’s Terms and Conditions of use, SIGHTER users who would deliberately create and upload obvious and recognizable false positive “sightings” will be prohibited to engage in future SIGHTER UAP data capture exercises or to upload sighting data to SIGHTER servers. In this way SIGHTER can minimize false positive sightings.