{"id":14989,"date":"2020-03-03T14:53:05","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T14:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=14989"},"modified":"2020-03-03T14:53:07","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T14:53:07","slug":"new-mexicos-sandia-labs-funded-to-work-on-three-year-project-to-address-uas-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/new-mexico\/new-mexicos-sandia-labs-funded-to-work-on-three-year-project-to-address-uas-threats\/%20","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico\u2019s Sandia Labs Funded to Work on Three-Year Project to Address UAS Threats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sandia National Laboratories robotics experts are working on\na way to intercept enemy unmanned aircraft systems midflight. They successfully\ntested their concept indoors with a swarm of four unmanned aircraft systems\nthat flew in unison, each carrying one corner of a net. Acting as a team, they\nintercepted the flying target, trapped it in air like an insect caught in a web\nand safely lowered it to the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An unmanned aircraft system tracks and follows Sandia National Laboratories researcher David Novick, who is leading a project to identify, track and capture enemy UAS during flight. <\/em>
(Photos by Randy Montoya) <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This test was part of a two-year Laboratory Directed\nResearch and Development project called Aerial Suppression of Airborne\nPlatforms. That demonstration led to funding for three years of continued\nresearch and testing for the Mobile Adaptive\/Reactive Counter Unmanned System,\nor MARCUS, project, which will address current and future national security\nthreats posed by small unmanned aircraft systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the future of security and incident response,\u201d said\nJon Salton, manager of the Sandia team working on MARCUS. \u201cThink of this as\ndrone-against-drone. What we need to accomplish is combining ground- and\naerial-based capabilities to more robustly address the UAS threat into the\nfuture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government and defense industry have been exploring ways\nto intercept enemy unmanned aircraft systems, with some organizations having\nsuccess in deploying nets toward targets from single drones. Sandia\u2019s research\nbuilt upon swarm coordination and carrying nets as a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The swarm of counter unmanned aircraft systems in Sandia\u2019s\n2017 Aerial Suppression of Airborne Platforms demonstration was controlled by a\nground-based computer system, said project lead David Novick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe computer system knows where each aircraft is at any\ngiven time and sends commands that space and move the system as a whole\nappropriately,\u201d he said. This is what enables the aircraft to optimize its\nposition for intercepting target aircraft systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MARCUS continues where previous research ended<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandia developed algorithms for airborne mobile defense\nsystems during the 2017 aerial suppression project because ground systems have\nlimitations, Salton said. For example, ground-based radar has difficulty\nidentifying low-altitude threatening vehicles through buildings and trees.\nAirborne systems with sensors, used in the MARCUS project, could dramatically\nenhance the ability to mitigate threats, even as the technology continues to\nevolve, he said. The idea of MARCUS is that the unmanned aircraft systems would\nhave the ability to intercept small threats and keep them at a safe distance\nfrom protected facilities and people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MARCUS project research encompasses three phases: identify,\ntrack and capture. Novick said in the identification phase, sensors on unmanned\naircraft systems will combine with ground-based systems to scan the\nenvironment. Computer systems will use this information to detect unmanned\naircraft systems that pose a threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional unmanned aircraft systems could be deployed to\ntrack and assess a threat vehicle, gather information and predict future\nmovements, Novick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the threatening unmanned aircraft systems were captured,\nit would be taken to a safe location, away from the public or response\npersonnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers face current national security challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers face the challenge of developing a system that\nhas never been created before, said Novick. If the project is successful,\nmultiple agencies could benefit from the technology, including the military,\nthe Department of Homeland Security, law enforcement entities and event\norganizers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MARCUS project is led by Sandia in collaboration with\nRafael Fierro, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer\nEngineering at The University of New Mexico. The project is funded by the NATO\nScience for Peace and Security Programme, and incorporates advanced algorithms\nfunded by the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate.\nThe work is being performed in partnership with armasuisse Science and\nTechnology of the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and\nSport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sandia National Laboratories robotics experts are working on a way to intercept enemy unmanned aircraft systems midflight. They successfully tested their concept indoors with a swarm of four unmanned aircraft systems that flew in unison, each carrying one corner of a net. Acting as a team, they intercepted the flying target, trapped it in air […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,10,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page-slider","category-new-mexico","category-unmanned-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/MARCUS2edit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14992,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14989\/revisions\/14992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}