autonomous/semi-autonomous platform system context. A key focus is improving the


integration of sensor software with UAV navigation systems. With respect to autonomy, in 2016 a Swiss research team tested a prototype search and rescue UAV system equipped with deep learning neural network software to map hiking trails in the Alps. The trials yielded approximately 20,000 images which were used to identify the hiking trails with 85% accuracy. Power consumption requirements,


especially battery life and weight of power plants, comprise another constraint. Currently, most batteries are alkaline or lead acid based. Lithium ion battery applications for unmanned platforms have yet to achieve widespread use due to a tendency for them to catch fire. Controlling platforms through


virtual reality gloves is another possible focus for UAV technology development. In this regard, recently published lab results on a glove concept funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) may be relevant.8


UAVs have also


been adapted for counter improvised explosive device (cIED) missions, albeit ground reconnaissance for prior identification may be required initially. Proof of concept research has also been carried out to solve the problem of UAVs to follow a person or group while maintaining a fixed distance based on visual camera inputs.9


Select projects DTRA and US army specialists have experimented with placing chemical weapons detectors and sample collectors on UAVs since at least 1998 (eg, with ion mobility spectrometry detector systems).10


Various defence planners


have considered the concept of placing mission adaptable chemical sensors (MACS) on a UAV.11 The US Defense Advanced Research


Projects Agency’s (DARPA) offensive swarm enabled tactics (OFFSET) project comprises two technology characteristics. Firstly there is an evaluation of swarm using technologies currently available but not yet employed in a swarm tactic-


C and B sensors have been shrunk into 'Acorns' that allow them to be transported by light robot systems ©CBRNe World


centric manner (eg, to support simultaneous top-down/bottom-up multistory building clearance operations. Secondly, comes the development of new swarm using techniques using inter alia game based environment simulation systems, including the possible identification of new missions. OFFSET utilises unmanned air and ground platforms (ie, some 250 robotic systems).12 Numerous defence contractors have


developed integrated sensor systems and software packages to provide near real- time field contamination profiles. Rheinmetall has developed an all terrain, amphibious-capable unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) whose projected missions include: casualty removal, CBRN reconnaissance, communications relay, logistics, surveillance and weapons platform.13


[Many more CBRN


UGVs can be found in the CBRNe World Directory. Ever Promoting Ed.]


Chemical arms control implications Autonomous and/or semi-autonomous platform based technologies may profoundly affect the nature and understanding of chemical disarmament and arms control. Such platforms may provide near real time information on dispersions of toxic chemicals and principal (key) degradation products, as well as authoritative data on wind, moisture and particulates/contaminants. Such platforms could also be used for transporting samples and for ensuring more secure communications. For example, in 2014 Médecins Sans Frontières tested, with the permission of Papua New Guinea authorities, the UAV transport of sputum tuberculosis samples resulting in a 75% reduction in transit time.14 Such platforms could also serve as a


type of tamper resistant ‘inspector seal’ to ensure that items remain undisturbed in the absence of


www.cbrneworld.com CBRNe Convergence, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indiana, USA, 6 - 8 Nov 2017 www.cbrneworld.com/convergence2017


June 2017 CBRNe WORLD


35


CBRNeWORLD


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