University in military drone research | Nouse

Research includes detection of hiding enemies, battlefield communications and stealth technology

York researchers contributed to the stealth technology of the experimental Demon drone

The University is conducting research for use in military drones, funded by drone manufacturers.

York is involved in a project with BAE Systems and nine other universities to make an unmanned vehicle, named the Demon drone.

First flown in September 2010, the drone cost ?6.2m to manufacture, split between BAE and the taxpayer.

According to BAE, one of York?s roles was to find ways of preventing enemy signal-jamming.

Other research in departments funded by military drone manufacturers focuses on drone detection of hiding enemies, drone battlefield communications, stealth technology and drone security.

The University has received ?1.8m from manufacturers of unmanned aerial vehicles for warzones over the past two years.

The October 2005 edition of Nouse exposed the University?s BAE shareholdings

In 2005, Nouse uncovered 115,000 shares in BAE had been bought by the University. In 2009 Nouse found York?s investments in arms firms had increased to more than ?1m, despite the adoption of a new Ethical Investment Policy. Yesterday, the University refused to say if it still has shareholdings in arms firms through its Pensions Scheme.

A University spokesman said, ?It is certainly the case that some of the research work undertaken at York could have military as well as civilian applications. However, it would be wrong to describe it as research on ?lethal drones?.?

A spokesman from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that although the technologies in the Demon drone ?have not as yet been incorporated? into drones in Afghanistan and Iraq, they may help ?make up the air force in the future.?

The Demon drone uses air jets instead of flaps for steering, giving it a more streamlined shape. This stealth technology would help unmanned aircraft to avoid enemy radar.

Demon project manager BAE is also working on two experimental, heavily armed, and autonomous stealth drones.

Taranis, BAE?s new armed experimental drone, is equipped with stealth technology. The prototype will have its first UK test flight this season.

One is called Taranis, whose prototype cost ?143m. This next-generation drone is being created in partnership with Rolls Royce, Qinetiq, and the MoD ? all of whom provide funding to York?s Computer Science and Electronics departments.

According to BAE, this drone will be fully automated, and will be able to strike targets ?with real precision at long range, even in another continent.?

The other new drone that BAE is working on is called Mantis, and is the product of a ?2bn programme with French military firm Dassault.

Talking at a Dubai airshow in 2009 that showcased the Mantis, a BAE representative said, ?It is fully autonomous. There is no man in the loop with a throttle. All you do is launch the aircraft with the click of a mouse.?

This unmanned vehicle is also capable of being heavily armed. Both experimental drones have UK test flights scheduled this season.

The Electronics department has undertaken drone research, with exclusively military applications.

The department?s research has included improving battlefield communications for drones, and developing stealth technology in the Demon drone to help unmanned vehicles avoid enemy radar.

The electronics department received almost ?160,000 last year from defence manufacturers QinetiQ, BAE, Selex Galileo, as well as the MoD.

A University spokesperson said the aim of the Demon project is to ?develop low cost technologies which can be used for surveying and other civilian applications ? the opposite end of the market from the very expensive UAVs used by the military.

The University?s specific contribution was looking at wireless communications ? technology that is used in all aircraft, whether civilian or military.?

However, a press release about the Demon drone from BAE said York?s task was to ?find novel ways of reducing susceptibility to RF threat?, a uniquely military application.

Dr Rob Alexander of the Computer Science department was last year paid by the Ministry of Defence to improve the ?security analysis? of military drones.

Dr Alexander said his research was for processes in the artificial intelligence of drones, with military applications.

He said, ?We?re not directly involved with any actual projects. Certainly not with the MoD.?

However, UK Government?s Defence Science and Technology Lab gave the department ?80,000 last year, while in total defence manufacturers provided the Computer Science department with over ?653,000.

Dr Alexander said, ?Security is about deliberate attacks, in terms of people trying to compromise systems, steal control of an unmanned vehicle, something like that.

?The military ones are highly classified, the civil ones ? even then people are very cagey about the fine details. It?s a very competitive market.?

Emma Brownbill, Computer Science postgraduate talked to Nouse about her experience of military aspects of the department?s research. ?The Group Project which is compulsory for Masters of Engineering students this year was about Command & Control (C2) Systems ? the major applications of which are military.

?When the external customer for the project, Thales [a defence manufacturer that provides drones for UK Armed Forces], came to present their initial briefing, their slides were full of pictures of military equipment, and it was obvious from the presentation that their pitch had been reworked to play down military applications.

?We weren?t given any ethics statement (which are compulsory when students set our own projects), and there wasn?t any acknowledgement that we might object.?

Brownbill said all the students involved opted against applying their research to military scenarios.

Tim Kelly, Computer Science Professor, received research funding from the MoD, the Defence Science and Technology Lab, and arms firms QinetiQ, BAE, and Rolls Royce.

He said, ?The defence domain is just one of the domains in which we work where this is an issue.

?Many of the analysis techniques that have been developed with funding from the defence domain (e.g. our work on safety cases or failure modelling) are now having significant benefit in the healthcare (e.g. medical device) domain.?

A paper published by department members is aimed at developing artificial intelligence in drones to learn how to detect people trying to evade them, ?relevant for example in the context of unmanned arial vehicles (UAV) that are frequently employed in intelligence gathering and opponent detection tasks.?

UK Government drone spending since 2007 is now more than ?2bn.

Source: http://www.nouse.co.uk/2013/03/05/university-in-arms-firm-funded-military-research/

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