Practical autonomous systems for search and rescue.
xSAR is an independent philanthropic engineering project based in Toowoomba. We research drones, sensors, positioning, communications and open-source tools that may help emergency responders work with better information and less avoidable risk. Human oversight remains central.
Current focus · July 2026
CAN FD node communications, RP2350 firmware, sensor acquisition, GNSS evaluation and Raspberry Pi 5 integration. Work is dated and published as it becomes useful, reproducible and documented.
How the work is organised
Development journey
Dated milestones, current work, lessons learned and what comes next.
Open engineering
Rust utilities, Linux tools, embedded firmware, sensors, positioning and communications.
Support xSAR
Infrastructure, equipment, specialist advice, introductions, testing, funding and encouragement all help.
Follow the engineering as it happens
Shorter updates, hardware milestones, experiments and repository releases are shared on X @xSAR_Research.
Supported by people who want practical technology to help
xSAR is self-funded and grateful for every useful contribution. Meet the organisations and people supporting the work, including Migadu, which provides private email hosting under the xSAR domain.
Last updated: 29 July 2026