Future conflicts beyond 2020 are expected to occur in increasingly complex urban environments. This call is for research proposals for mobile, day/night, all weather sensor, processing and communication technologies that can enable urban operations in a truly three dimensional physical environment.
Of particular interest are novel advances that will support dismounted close combat at the company level and below, specifically man-portable technology that will increase tempo, enable shared situational awareness and support:
This CDE call is for research proposals for innovative software developments in digital systems and information communication technology that:
- Operations inside buildings with multiple levels both above and below ground level;
- Non-cooperative target differentiation of own forces, adversaries and neutrals;
- Accurate target localisation and targeting in three dimensions; and,
- The rapid clearance and holding of territory.
This call is focused on enhancing the human senses and linking each soldier, as a collector and receiver of information, into the wider networked system. Desired capabilities include:
- Short range, secure communication including man-to-man and the “body network”;
- Digitisation of self and target location in 3 dimensions in environments with limited GPS availability;
- Collaborative detection, recognition, identification and targeting;
- Stand-off tagging, tracking and target hand-off (possibly exploiting biometric techniques);
- Through cover and wall detection of individuals and threats to eliminate surprises; and,
- Real-time translation of both visual and acoustic information.
Proposals will be expected to demonstrate a proof of concept by February 2012 with a detailed development plan delivered by the end of March 2012.
The competition will launch at a seminar event at Cardiff University on 8th September 2011. Potential applicants are strongly recommended to attend the seminar, registration is necessary via http://www.science.mod.uk/events/event_detail.aspx?eventid=142.