Countering Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: The Technological Framework Essential for Their Neutralization
The Department of Defense faces significant challenges in countering unmanned aerial systems (UAS), but sensor fusion and network architecture are proving to be crucial components in addressing these challenges.
Sensor Fusion
Sensor fusion is the process of aligning and merging detections from multiple sensors into a single object or track. This approach enhances situational awareness by integrating data from various sensors, such as radar, electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR), acoustic detection technologies, and electronic warfare (EW) systems.
By consolidating diverse sensor inputs, sensor fusion helps reduce the cognitive burden on operators, providing them with a clearer and more comprehensive view of the battlefield. This consolidated data allows for more accurate identification, classification, and neutralization of drone threats, giving military forces a decisive advantage.
Network Architecture
A seamless Command and Control (C2) system is essential for integrating all service components, enabling the sharing of sensor and effector data across tactical and strategic levels. This ensures that all units have access to the same information, improving coordination and effectiveness.
Traditional, bespoke systems operating independently are ineffective against evolving drone threats. A network architecture connects these systems, allowing for real-time data sharing and coordinated responses. By connecting sensors and effectors through a network, the military can achieve a high-fidelity picture of the battlefield, enabling more effective countermeasures against drones.
In an ideal network, a drone detected by a forward-deployed squad sensor will carry the same track number as when it is sensed by brigade, division, or joint-level assets. Without a shared and enforced track management protocol, the same drone may be assigned multiple IDs by different nodes, resulting in duplicated tracks. Deconfliction algorithms are necessary to correlate data streams with varying latency or reporting intervals.
Solving this requires robust protocols for track number assignment, deconfliction, and reconciliation across the enterprise. Spatial alignment requires the system to have GPS or inertial measurement unit data to translate local sensor detections into a common grid.
Establishing robust transport to connect diverse sensors and effectors into a unified network is a foundational challenge. Without reliable data transport modes, sensor fusion and cooperative engagement leveraging any effector is not possible.
The US Army should immediately prescribe the C-UAS C2 system to be used across the department. This system must have a user interface that is intuitive for all occupational specialties, have a web-based, cloud-enabled architecture, and be capable of over-the-air updates for all systems, sensors, and effectors.
In a recent incident, a hostile drone was detected by sensors from a forward multifunctional reconnaissance company and an infantry squad vehicle from an adjacent platoon. The battalion headquarters directed the launch of a friendly drone to destroy Track 2112, and the drone was successfully destroyed. The drone's location was displayed as a red dot on a map, and its ID was displayed, demonstrating the effectiveness of the integrated C-UAS system.
A squad of infantry dismounted their vehicle and moved towards an objective. In this scenario, the integrated C-UAS system played a crucial role in enhancing situational awareness, streamlining command and control, and facilitating a unified response to drone threats.
- Sensor fusion, combining detections from multiple sensors like radar, EO/IR, acoustic detection technologies, and EW systems, is vital for military defense, providing operators with a clearer view of the battlefield and enhancing situational awareness.
- Network architecture is crucial for integrating all military components, enabling the sharing of sensor and effector data across tactical and strategic levels, improving coordination and effectiveness.
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