SUM - Surveillance in an urban environment using mobile sensors

Abstract

The armed forces are nowadays confronted with a wide variety of types of military operations they can be engaged in. Military equipment, in the past designed primarily for force-on-force conflicts, is currently also being used for peace enforcement and peace support operations. These new types of operations present new challenges at all levels, from the lowest tactical level up to the strategic level. Combat units operating in an urban environment are confronted with the so-called “3-block war” situation, in which they are providing humanitarian relief in one city block, are performing peacekeeping operations in the next, and are faced to a full-scale war in the third. This leads to the “strategic corporal” problem, where very low-level unit commanders are required to take potentially wide-ranging decisions. In an urban environment, where small units patrol the streets with armoured vehicles, the team leader is faced with a very difficult risk management exercise. He has to get into the OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) loop of his adversaries, and therefore requires a real-time operational picture of the threats he is facing, that is as precise as possible. The proposal describes the intended project. The aim of this project is to develop a low-cost multi-sensor vehicle protection system using a data fusion engine in order to enhance situational awareness and aid command and control for a moving vehicle in an urban environment, as well as to protect critical static points such as road blocks or outposts, taking into account the operational needs defined by end-users.