[:en]AUDIS – ACOUSTIC URBAN THREAT DETECTOR FOR IMPROVED SURVEILLANCE CAPABILITIES (Duration: 2009-2012)

 

AUDIS aimed at designing and developing a novel cognitive sensor that offers flexibility and adaptivity to the encountered scenario while ensuring a neat capability improvement in recognition and characterization of such ground threats.

The AUDIS sensor is a multi-modal, in–air passive acoustic device working in arrayed/sparse configuration. It offers the high number of degrees of freedom that is necessary for: optimal disturbance rejection (e.g. reverberation in urban environment), detection of potential threats, tracking of threats represented by ground vehicles and hostile crowds or human beings (“nontransient” targets, NTTs), threat classification and friend-foe-neutral elements identification, and threat behaviour analysis and risk evaluation.

ATHENA – ASYMMETRIC  THREAT ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS (Duration: 2010-2013)

ATHENA’s mission was to improve or create asymmetric urban threat models and scenarios, where the impacts on “Hearts and Minds” would be among the main criteria of mission success. The project springed from out the state-of-the-art in the areas of physical engagements models, socio-cybernetics models, data exchange models and standards (such as JC3IEDM, ADatP3) and data exchange technologies – especially suited for distributed simulation (such as HLA or DIS).

The project’s goal was to extend existing and to develop new models describing aspects of operations in an urban and asymmetric environment. The models fell into three core categories – Asymmetric Engagements, “Hearts and Minds” and Emerging Threat Scenarios – connected in an inter-locked feedback loop.

CARDINAL – CAPABILITY STUDY TO INVESTIGATE THE ESSENTIAL MAN-MACHINE RELATIONSHIP FOR IMPROVED DECISION MAKING IN URBAN MILITARY OPERATIONS (Duration: 2009-2012)

The CARDINAL proposal aimed to design and develop an information coordination system that would provide realtime tactical support to military troops on the ground while performing their tasks in urban environments. This information coordination system is called the CARDINAL system which is a workstation that can be implemented as e.g. a computer terminal or a laptop, depending on operational needs. The Human Factors engineered CARDINAL system makes use of a Network Enabled Capability environment (NEC), and incorporates artificial intelligence techniques for perception and decision support. The operational objective was to improve effectiveness of military performance at group/platoon level due to informational superiority that was based on realtime intel updates and sensor image availability, tuned to mission objectives.

The project first made an operational analysis of information needs and requirements in view of expected available NEC functionalities like acoustic devices or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imagery for the detection of e.g. snipers, hit-and-run ambushes or hostile crowds. Then artificial intelligence techniques and human factors engineering were applied to design and develop a man-machine collaborating information coordination system (CARDINAL system). Finally, the CARDINAL system was coupled to a virtual environment in which military scenarios could be performed for assessing the operational benefits of the CARDINAL system.

UGELAS – UNATTENDED GROUND SENSOR NETWORKS FOR LARGE AREA SURVEILLANCE (Duration: 2011-2012)

The aim of the UGELAS study was to review the state of the art of Unattended Ground Sensor Networks for Large Area Surveillance in the battlefield, to define a database and to establish a roadmap (i.e. identifying for each technology a 10/15 years vision). Moreover, the second aim was to design a preliminary system architecture for a short term (2 years) demonstration using existing military or commercial off-the-shelf products. This study covered a large spectrum of technologies and aimed to identify the breakdown technologies based on a strong link with research, industrial partners and MODs experts’ analyses. The UGELAS project was based on a European coherent consortium including organizations, both industrial, research and governmental. It aimed at reaching a global view of what was available on the market in Europe, and to elaborate a vision and recommendations, with a wide group of experts. The project followed a four steps approach to reach this goal, i.e. Technical Input to Capability Analysis, Survey of the enabling technologies, State of the art of UGSN and road map for the 15 next years, and Design of Preliminary System Architecture.

SIMS – SMART INFORMATION FOR MISSION SUCCESS (Duration: 2010-2011)

The consortium delivered a proof of concept for Smart Information (dissemination) for Mission Success (SIMS) resulting in novel mission planning tool(s) and aid for force protection assets in an asymmetric warfare context in an urban and non-urban environment. Also, based upon this SIMS study, guidelines for mission training and requirements for future mission training equipment were established. The main objective of the study was to provide concept, methods and tools for a mission planning centred on human aspects (method and tool usability as well as collaborative working). Special focus of SIMS was on closing the information loop between the operational and tactical planning levels (static) and from the mission execution level (dynamic), and dealing with non-kinetic asymmetric warfare issues (e.g. when does certain human behaviour call for escalating or de-escalating principles).

CENSIT – FUSION OF CBRN SENSOR INFORMATION IN TACTICAL NETWORKS (Duration: 2015 – 2017)

The key objective of CENSIT project is the development of a conceptual network of sensors. The network will comprise CBRN sensors as well as others devices that could be potentially integrated. State-of-the-art enabling technologies will be reviewed and data-fusion technologies will be investigated to provide the concept of deployment of the network of sensors. All those actions are intended to allow for localization of source, type and strength of CBRN agent, while lowering false alarms rates in any weather conditions or type of threat. The general idea is to improve the situational awareness of the commander in the field both in the threat and response phases of a CBRN incident.[:]