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As Ukraine's stocks of artillery shells have dwindled, its army's reliance on drones has grown.
随着乌克兰的炮弹库存减少，其军队对无人机的依赖也随之增加。
These are able to deliver ammunition with great precision over long distances—provided they can maintain connections with GPS satellites (so they know where they are) and their operators (so they know what to do).
这些无人机能够以极高的精度远距离投送弹药，前提是它们能够与GPS卫星（这样它们就知道它们在哪里）和操作员（这样他们就知道该做什么）保持联系。
Such communication signals can be jammed, however, and Russia's electronic warfare, as signals scrambling is known, is fearsomely effective.
然而，这种通信信号可能会受到干扰，而俄罗斯的电子战（即众所周知的信号干扰）非常有效。
With large numbers of its drones in effect blinded, Ukraine's drone technologists have been forced to get creative. Enter Eagle Eyes, a remarkable software package for drones.
由于大量无人机实际上处于盲区，乌克兰的无人机技术人员不得不发挥创造力。一款出色的无人机软件包鹰眼应运而生。
Developed by Ukraine's special forces, it allows drones to navigate by machine sight alone, with no need for outside input.
它由乌克兰特种部队开发，允许无人机仅凭机器视觉进行导航，无需外部输入。
Using artificial-intelligence (AI) algorithms, the software compares live video of the terrain below with an on-board map stitched together from photographs and video previously collected by reconnaissance aircraft.
该软件使用人工智能(AI)算法，将下方地形的实时视频与机载地图进行比较，该地图由侦察机先前收集的照片和视频拼接而成。
This allows for drones to continue with their missions even after being jammed.
这使得无人机在受到干扰后仍能继续执行任务。
Eagle Eyes has also been trained to recognise specific ground-based targets, including tanks, troop carriers, missile launchers and attack helicopters.
“鹰眼”还经过训练，可以识别特定的地面目标，包括坦克、运兵车、导弹发射器和攻击直升机。
The software can then release bombs, or crash-dive, without a human operator's command.
然后，该软件可以在没有人类操作员指挥的情况下投掷炸弹或俯冲。
"Bingo for us," says a captain in White Eagle, a special-forces corps that is using and further developing the technology.
“我们赢了，”白鹰特种部队的一名上尉说，该部队正在使用并进一步开发这项技术。
The software has been programmed to target jamming stations as a priority, says the captain, who requested anonymity.
这位不愿透露姓名的上尉说，该软件已被编程为优先瞄准干扰站。
Russia's vaunted S-400 air-defence batteries are priority number two. Optical navigation, as this approach to guidance is known, has a long history.
俄罗斯引以为豪的S-400防空炮台是第二要务。这种制导方法被称为光学导航，历史悠久。
An early version was incorporated in America's Tomahawk cruise missiles, for example, first fired in anger during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
例如，早期版本被纳入美国的战斧巡航导弹中，该导弹在1991年的沙漠风暴行动中首次发射。
But lightweight, inexpensive optical navigation for small drones is new.
但用于小型无人机的轻便、廉价的光学导航是新事物。
In the spring of last year Eagle Eyes was being tested in combat by just three special-forces teams, each with two or three drone handlers.
去年春天，只有三支特种部队在实战中测试了鹰眼系统，每支部队都有两三名无人机操作员。
Today Eagle Eyes is cheap enough for kamikaze drones and is in wide use, says Valeriy Borovyk, commander of a White Eagle unit fighting in Ukraine's south.
在乌克兰南部作战的白鹰部队指挥官瓦列里·博罗维克（Valeriy Borovyk）说，如今鹰眼系统已经足够便宜，可以用于神风特攻队无人机，而且应用十分广泛。
With a range of about 60km, the system also guides fixed-wing drones that have struck energy infrastructure in Russia, he says.
他说，该系统的射程约为60公里，还可以引导袭击俄罗斯能源基础设施的固定翼无人机。
Last autumn the number of Ukrainian drones with optical navigation probably numbered in the hundreds.
去年秋天，乌克兰使用光学导航的无人机数量可能只有数百架。
Today the figure is closer to 10,000, says an industry hand in Odessa whose design bureau builds prototype systems for two Ukrainian manufacturers.
敖德萨的一位业内人士说，如今这个数字已接近10000架，他的设计局为两家乌克兰制造商制造了原型系统。
Anton Varavin, chief technologist at a competing design bureau, Midgard Dynamics in Ternopil in western Ukraine, says optical navigation is increasingly seen as a "must have", especially for drones with a range above 20km.
竞争对手设计局Midgard Dynamics位于乌克兰西部的捷尔诺波尔，其首席技术专家安东·瓦拉文（Anton Varavin）表示，光学导航越来越被视为“必备”技术，尤其是对于射程超过20公里的无人机而言。
Optical navigation works best near distinctive features such as crossroads, power lines, isolated trees, big buildings and nearby bodies of water.
光学导航最适合在十字路口、输电线、孤立的树木、大型建筑物和附近水域等显著位置附近使用。
For small drones with inexpensive optical navigation, the ideal cruising altitude is about 500 metres, says Andy Bosyi, a co-founder of MindCraft.ai, a developer of optical-navigation prototypes with workplaces at undisclosed locations in and near Lviv.
MindCraft.ai联合创始人Andy Bosyi表示，对于采用廉价光学导航的小型无人机而言，理想的巡航高度约为500米。MindCraft.ai是一家光学导航原型开发商，其工作地点位于利沃夫及其附近的未公开地点。
That altitude is low enough for the software to work out terrain details, and yet high enough for a sufficient field of view. The height is also beyond the range of small-arms fire.
这个高度足够低，软件可以计算出地形细节，但又足够高，可以提供足够的视野。这个高度也超出了小型武器的射程。
MindCraft.ai shipped its first models, appropriately dubbed NOGPS, to manufacturers in December.
MindCraft.ai于12月向制造商交付了其首批型号，恰当地称为NOGPS。
