The launch follows NATO and other trials
Pearson Engineering has developed its existing ground-laid ordnance detection technology, Threat-Sense, to support the identification of threats to mobility using drones.
Through artificial intelligence and robust synthetic threat libraries, Threat-Sense can detect anti-tank and anti-personnel mines and indicate to operators where threats are present in varying environmental conditions.
Threat-Sense has been successfully proven integrated with platforms ranging from Foxhound and HX60 to the Patria AMV and TRX 2 robotic combat vehicle. Pearson Engineering’s Unmanned Solutions team then evolved the system for integration with a drone to assist in enhanced reconnaissance and stand-off from the vehicle. The integration has now also been proven with NATO allies at the Suffield Research Centre in Canada.
Using a commercially available off-the-shelf drone, operators can control Threat-Sense up to 5km away, reducing the risk to life and providing an additional method of surface-laid threat identification. Threat-Sense is compatible with any drone which can give a sufficient video feed. Its processing unit can be mounted on drones with on-edge processing or drawn from the drone’s video feed for ground-based processing according to requirements.
Threat-Sense logs all of the detected threats with unique identifiers, GPS markers and timestamps, and it can network information over the Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK) or Data Distribution Service (DDS) in real-time.
Pearson Engineering’s Senior Engineer for Unmanned Solutions commented: “Through research, observation and collaboration with the commanders of armoured vehicles, we began to understand the huge volume of information that they receive and must be aware of. Threat detection is one such task with fatal consequences if sufficient intelligence is not available. Threat-Sense is designed to support Commanders, providing them with real-time, artificial intelligence-enhanced threat information through a simple and intuitive user interface.”
The company’s ordnance-defeating products include the internationally deployed Route Opening Mine Plough, Self-Protection Mine Plough, Route Proving Roller, Self-Protection Roller and Surface Clearance Device. Threat-Pathway, a newer development designed to provide rapidly deployable scatterable mine clearance capability to combat vehicles and combat support vehicles, has also participated in several end-user demonstrations and trials.
