Downloading and Installing Ascend Collision Overwatch (ACO)

Michael Pehel
Jan 8
2 min read

What is ACO?

Ascend Collision Overwatch (ACO) is a collision-prevention application that integrates LightWare’s SF45 rotating LiDAR sensor into your drone’s flight stack. Running alongside mission mode, ACO monitors your flight path for obstacles up to 40 meters away. When an obstacle is detected, the drone automatically commands a stop and enters a hold-position state until manually floACOwn to safety by an operator.

ACO runs on VOXL 2 and Auterion Skynode platforms, supports both PX4 and ArduPilot autopilots, and is designed for high-value UAV platforms where preventing a single crash can save thousands in hardware, downtime, and lost missions.

For full documentation, visit: https://ascend-engineering.gitbook.io/ascend-collision-overwatch

Part 1: Purchase

Navigate to https://ascendengineering.lemonsqueezy.com/
Enter your email address and any additional required details
Click Pay to complete the purchase

After payment, you’ll receive an email containing:

Installer download link — URL to download the ACO installer
License key — your unique activation key
Product ID — identifier for your purchase

Important: Save this email. You’ll need the license key, product ID, and email address during installation.

Part 2: Installation

Step 1: Launch the Installer

Click the installer download link from your purchase email
Save the installer to your computer
Double-click the installer to open the installation window

Step 2: Enter License Details

In the installer window, enter the following from your purchase email:

License key
Product ID

Click “Verify Activation License” to validate your credentials. On success, you’ll see a message confirming verification was successful and showing available machine activations (e.g., “1 machine available”).

Step 3: Connect to Your Drone

Enter your drone’s SSH connection details:

Field	Description	Default
IP Address	Your drone’s network IP	(required)
Port	SSH port	22
Username	SSH login username	root
Password	SSH password	(required)

Click “Retrieve Drone Info” to establish the connection. This verifies that the installer can communicate with your drone via SSH. On success, the installer displays drone information, including the machine code. The status will show “Unregistered” — this is expected for new installations.