armasuisse S+T took part in the AHORN22 conference last December. This three-way event organised by the Swiss Institute of Navigation (ION-CH) and bringing together the Austrian and German Institutes of Navigation (OVN and DGON) was an opportunity to exchange views on problems of positioning, navigation and communications technology that are specific to the Alpine environment.
The Swiss Drone and Robotics Centre of the DDPS (SDRC DDPS) of armasuisse Science and Technology deals with robotics in the security environment. It is supported in this by the Strategic Advisory Board, consisting of representatives from the armed forces, research, industry and government. This Board adopted four recommended actions for the SDRC DDPS on 8 December 2022.
On 15 and 16 November 2022, armasuisse Science and Technology held a two-day research workshop with its partners from Germany and Switzerland in Thun. The focus was on mutual exchange, including subjects such as cognitive radar techniques, drone detection, and modern camouflage. In addition to the workshop, the participants visited the laboratories of the specialist areas Communication and Electromagnetic Protection as well as Sensory Technology.
The Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) is testing the use of SCION network technology and is setting up a national SCION test infrastructure for this purpose at the Cyber-Defence (CYD) Campus, armasuisse Science and Technology, together with Swisscom, Sunrise and SWITCH.
Due to the use of artificial intelligence (AI), machines are being increasingly involved in decision-making processes. Thereby a key question is how to ensure human control, so that increasingly more autonomous systems can reliably be deployed by security forces. This question was addressed in the workshop held on 2 and 3 November 2022 under the management of the Digital Society Initiative (DSI) of the University of Zurich in cooperation with the Swiss Drone and Robotics Centre of the DDPS (SDRC DDPS), armasuisse Science and Technology. The presentations revealed the latest research findings on ethical and legal aspects of the control of autonomous systems in the security sector.
Since joining the NATO Munitions Safety Information Analysis Centre (MSIAC) in 2021 Switzerland has enjoyed numerous technical resources and precious support from international munitions experts. This is particularly helpful in validating and rounding out internal expertise so as to improve the safety of people and materials. Last October the steering committee of MSIAC visited armasuisse Science and Technology facilities as part of a working session organised in Switzerland.
Electromagnetic emissions of a radar system can be used by third parties for reconnaissance and identification of the same radar. In the case of new, adaptive multifunctional radars with transmission signals that are constantly changing, this type of identification is no longer possible on a straightforward basis with conventional procedures. In order to test new methods in the reconnaissance of these types of adaptive radar systems, radar experts from the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques and from armasuisse Science and Technology have recorded and analysed emissions from an adaptive radar system for the first time.
ONEKEY, Narrowin and Sepio have convinced the Cyber Startup Challenge 2022 jury in this year’s selection procedure. All three companies presented a pitch on 26 October 2022 during the Cyber-Defence (CYD) Campus Conference.
Imagery intelligence of ground activities provides very relevant information for intelligence domains. This type of imagery is made using Synthetic Aperture Radar devices, for example. The advantage: They can create ground reconnaissance images both by day and by night, and even in cloudy conditions. Employees of armasuisse Science and Technology (S+T) are now testing how flying objects can also be imaged in the future.
The Cyber-Defence Campus, armasuisse Science and Technology organised a hackathon on the topic of industrial control systems (ICS) together with the Cyber Battalion 42. The hackathon brought together over 30 cyber experts from academia, the private sector and the administration, with the goals of promoting knowledge exchange in the cyber community, pinpointing vulnerabilities in industrial control systems and developing effective countermeasures.
