Physicists Develop AI-Powered Methodology for UAP Research

Physicists use AI to hunt for UAPs and UFOs

An international team of physicists has developed a new methodology to aid NASA and other government agencies in their ongoing investigations into unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). The result is a novel strategy integrating a specially designed artificial intelligence program that was partially inspired by the physicists' own hunt for elusive dark matter. More popularly known as unidentified flying objects or UFOs, UAPs aren't necessarily considered as outlandish as they were decades ago. Setting aside the various theories that point to mysterious visitors from another planet, analysis increasingly centers on determining more worldly explanations. UAPs are often explained by classified experimental aircraft, astronomical events, or simply a case of mistaken drone identity. Meanwhile, a small percentage of sightings continue to baffle experts. Over the last few years, the US government has attempted to present a more transparent approach to its UAP research, while the military continues a campaign to destigmatize reporting sightings among its ranks. In November 2024, Congress held a publicly televised joint subcommittee hearing about UAPs featuring a former US Navy rear admiral and NASA administrator. While not without its fair share of criticism, these and similar events are shifting the overarching narrative around unidentified aerial phenomenon. Researchers like Matthew Syzdagis at the University of Albany have followed this evolving discourse for years. An associate professor of physics focused on dark matter, Syzdagis recently began collaborating with over 30 colleagues around the world to determine if this approach to hunting dark matter could be adapted to the search for UAPs. Their results, published this month in the journal Progress in Aerospace Studies, offer a new interdisciplinary methodology to review the past and future UAP sightings. "As this process moves forward, it's critical that future study of UAPs follows a rigorous, repeatable method that can be tested and confirmed by other researchers," Syzdagis said in a statement. "We aim to establish a roadmap for these efforts with this paper." The team relied on an array of datasets and tools to build their framework, including publicly available Doppler weather information from the National Weather Service (NWS). The NWS data was used to corroborate observations from additional equipment and determine if any of them simultaneously recorded a given anomaly. They then utilized Cosmic Watch, a radiation-detection system, to assess if a target UAP observed by infrared cameras was accompanied by ionizing radiation. To help analyze the infrared data, Szydagis created a new software program called Custom Target Analysis Protocol (C-TAP) that utilizes machine learning alongside human verification to review individual camera frames on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Inspired by similar strategies used to scan for direct evidence of dark matter, C-TAP then flags and separates actual UAP observations from any digital noise. Finally, these results were overlaid with trigonometric calculations to exclude any known objects in the sky like satellites or the International Space Station. To test it all out, Szydagis and colleagues used their new methodology to review observable light and infrared images collected on a 2021 field expedition around Laguna Beach, California, amid a period of heightened UAP reports. In total, the team reviewed about one hour of triggered visible and night-vision video footage along with over 600 hours of infrared data and 55 hours of background radiation measurements. Of the multiple anomalies initially flagged, researchers were able to offer plausible and likely explanations for all sightings except for one -- a collection of bright white dots inside a dark spot recorded across multiple videos. And even then, it seems unlikely that the UAP event was unique. "At this point, none can be classified as true anomalies, although further study of remaining ambiguities may alter this conclusion," the study's authors wrote in their conclusion. Moving forward, the team hopes their methodology will help more researchers around the world continue to vet UAP sightings on a scientific, unbiased basis. "Given the longstanding, global nature of the UAP/UFO question, [and] the air safety and security implications of their presence... studying and understanding these phenomena is of great and urgent importance," added University of Albany physics professor and study lead author Kevin Knuth.

Physicists test scientific approach to unidentified anomalous phenomena research

A team of physicists from the University at Albany has proposed scientifically rigorous methods for documenting and analyzing Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) building upon the work of numerous past and present researchers in the field. The team tested their methods in the field for the first time and reported their findings in Progress in Aerospace Sciences. UAP is the term used by government agencies like NASA to refer to "observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena." Utilizing a diverse set of devices to capture different types of data on many channels, UAlbany authors Matthew Szydagis, Kevin Knuth and Cecilia Levy, along with Ben Kugielsky of UAPx, a non-profit scientific research organization, collected observable-light and infrared images during a field expedition in 2021 to Laguna Beach, California. The team also used weather radar data and radiation detectors to create a robust framework for documenting and testing potentially anomalous phenomena that moves away from reliance on eyewitness testimony and similarly subjective methods. "Following on from the recent joint Congressional subcommittee hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena, the study of UAP is slowly moving from the fringe to the mainstream of scientific study," said Szydagis, lead author and an associate professor of physics at UAlbany. "As this process moves forward, it's critical that future study of UAPs follows a rigorous, repeatable method that can be tested and confirmed by other researchers. We aim to establish a roadmap for these efforts with this paper." Szydagis noted the combination of tools and data sets his team relied on during the study included the first use of National Weather Service public Doppler weather radar data to corroborate observations from other instruments, the introduction of coincidence timing between detectors to determine whether potential anomalies were simultaneously recorded by multiple instruments, and a radiation-detection tool known as the Cosmic Watch to determine whether anomalies observed on infrared cameras were accompanied by detectable ionizing radiation. New AI-assisted image analysis To help analyze the data from the infrared cameras, Szydagis developed new software, Custom Target Analysis Protocol (C-TAP), which combines artificial intelligence with human verification to do a pixel-by-pixel analysis of successive camera frames to study differences and distinguish actual observations from digital noise in the camera images -- similar to an approach used by physicists like him and Levy to look for direct evidence of dark matter. The researchers coupled this data with robust trigonometric calculations to identify and exclude known objects in the night sky, such as the International Space Station. Ultimately, the UAlbany research team succeeded in plausibly explaining all but one of the potential anomalies detected -- demonstrating that their method is effective and completing important field-testing of the equipment and analysis software. "While we did not find evidence indicating that UAP have anything to do with non-human intelligence, we still cannot fully explain our one remaining ambiguity, or potential anomaly, which was a collection of bright white dots within a dark spot seen in multiple videos," Szydagis said. A comprehensive review of UAP studies The special edition of Progress in Aerospace Sciences includes a comprehensive review of studies conducted on UAPs from 1933 to the present, including more than 20 historical government and privately funded projects, as well as recent scientific research efforts in Ireland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the United States. That article, "The New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP)," aims to clarify the current and historical scientific narrative around UAP and highlight that UAP/UFOs are longstanding global phenomena that have been observed and recorded for well over 150 years, that UAP/UFOs have been observed and studied by astronomers, scientists, and engineers, and that there are currently several serious academic efforts in multiple countries working to collect hard scientific data on UAP using modern instrumentation. Knuth is lead author of the article, which was co-written by Szydagis and more than 30 other researchers from around the world. "Given the longstanding, global nature of the UAP/UFO question, the air safety and security implications of their presence, and the potentially profound importance of their nature, studying and understanding these phenomena is of great and urgent importance," Knuth said.

UAlbany Physicists Test Scientific Approach to UAP Research | Newswise

Newswise -- ALBANY, N.Y. (June 4, 2025) -- A team of physicists from the University at Albany has proposed scientifically rigorous methods for documenting and analyzing Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) building upon the work of numerous past and present researchers in the field. The team tested their methods in the field for the first time and reported their findings as part of a special edition of the high-impact peer-reviewed journal Progress in Aerospace Sciences published on June 2. UAP is the term used by government agencies like NASA to refer to "observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena." Utilizing a diverse set of devices to capture different types of data on many channels, UAlbany authors Matthew Szydagis, Kevin Knuth and Cecilia Levy, along with Ben Kugielsky of UAPx, a non-profit scientific research organization, collected observable-light and infrared images during a field expedition in 2021 to Laguna Beach, California. The team also used weather radar data and radiation detectors to create a robust framework for documenting and testing potentially anomalous phenomena that moves away from reliance on eyewitness testimony and similarly subjective methods. "Following on the recent joint Congressional subcommittee hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena, the study of UAP is slowly moving from the fringe to the mainstream of scientific study," said Szydagis, lead author and an associate professor of physics at UAlbany. "As this process moves forward, it's critical that future study of UAPs follows a rigorous, repeatable method that can be tested and confirmed by other researchers. We aim to establish a roadmap for these efforts with this paper." Szydagis noted the combination of tools and data sets his team relied on during the study included the first use of National Weather Service public Doppler weather radar data to corroborate observations from other instruments, the introduction of coincidence timing between detectors to determine whether potential anomalies were simultaneously recorded by multiple instruments, and a radiation-detection tool known as the Cosmic Watch to determine whether anomalies observed on infrared cameras were accompanied by detectable ionizing radiation. New AI-Assisted Image Analysis To help analyze the data from the infrared cameras, Szydagis developed new software, Custom Target Analysis Protocol (C-TAP), which combines artificial intelligence with human verification to do a pixel-by-pixel analysis of successive camera frames to study differences and distinguish actual observations from digital noise in the camera images -- similar to an approach used by physicists like him and Levy to look for direct evidence of dark matter. The researchers coupled this data with robust trigonometric calculations to identify and exclude known objects in the night sky, such as the International Space Station. Ultimately, the UAlbany research team succeeded in plausibly explaining all but one of the potential anomalies detected -- demonstrating that their method is effective and completing important field-testing of the equipment and analysis software. "While we did not find evidence indicating that UAP have anything to do with non-human intelligence, we still cannot fully explain our one remaining ambiguity, or potential anomaly, which was a collection of bright white dots within a dark spot seen in multiple videos," Szydagis said. Director and producer Caroline Cory of OMnium Media provided funding for all of the California field work to produce the documentary film "A Tear in the Sky" (2022). A Comprehensive Review of UAP Studies The special edition of Progress in Aerospace Sciences includes a comprehensive review of studies conducted on UAPs from 1933 to the present, including more than 20 historical government and privately funded projects as well as recent scientific research efforts in Ireland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the United States. That article, "The New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP)," aims to clarify the current and historical scientific narrative around UAP and highlight that UAP/UFOs are longstanding global phenomena that have been observed and recorded for well over 150 years, that UAP/UFOs have been observed and studied by astronomers, scientists, and engineers, and that there are currently several serious academic efforts in multiple countries working to collect hard scientific data on UAP using modern instrumentation. Knuth is lead author of the article, which was co-written by Szydagis and more than 30 other researchers from around the world. "Given the longstanding, global nature of the UAP/UFO question, the air safety and security implications of their presence, and the potentially profound importance of their nature, studying and understanding these phenomena is of great and urgent importance." Knuth said.