Author:
Cadet Brandon Sluss
North Carolina State University
Co-Authors:
Brandon Sluss, Isaac Castelloes, Noah Williams

Abstract

A drone for reconnaissance and assistance in combat operations would alleviate a lot of challenges to enemy identification and route planning among other things. A fast, small drone could be used and interfaced with the ATAK system. This would allow for more adaptability, usability, and intuitiveness that would be extremely functional during combat operations.

 

Problem Statement

During a firefight, it can be difficult to locate and identify the enemy. They could be firing at you from multiple directions keeping your head down and making it hard to identify the exact angle/location of the fires and enemy. It can also be difficult to track terrain during and before movements. How can we use a drone to easily discover this information and interface it so it can easily be relayed to soldiers?

Proposal

A small, fast drone with camera capabilities could be launched into the air at or before the objective to identify the enemies and gain an understanding of the angles they are firing at you from. This could allow the leader to plan accordingly or adjust his plan during the fight to take out the enemy as quickly as possible. This would require incorporating an application within ATAK on a soldier’s kit that allowed the drone to interface, communicate, and send information to the ATAK system/cell phone on the spot during combat. Other uses for this would be during route planning on foot and could be incorporated into a vehicle’s ATAK system for mounted patrols.

Challenges and Unknowns

Range

Security

Control

User Friendly Interface with ATAK to get information from dron

Comments

tommy.sebastian | 16 February 2021

Doing something like this visually would be pretty hard, but I could imagine drones fitted with microphones filtered such that they amplify gunshots and notch out the motor/propwash noise, and used to triangulate the location of shooters could be really useful. Maybe cameras could also be used to catch muzzle flash, perhaps with wide-angle optics. Throwing a laser designator on the drone to point out hostiles would simplify things (solider wouldn't have to stare at the ATAK screen to see where enemy was), but the drone starts to get bigger and more complicated.

dBlocher | 17 February 2021

In agreement with Tommy here that the uncued visual search would be challenging particularly in an Urban environment with civilians. Using audio triangulation to locate the source of a gunshot would provide a helpful first pass, otherwise you might look at ability to provide rough threat ID using e.g. gun object recognition.

awright | 19 February 2021

think there would be any utility in a drone that provides a distraction to enemy? Like maybe it is intended to be seen and transmit data until it draws fire on itself. the point at which data is lost gives information on enemies, especially if the drones are highly cheap, disposable and can be deployed en masse. Could shooter locations could be triangulated via (low bandwidth) drone data loss points all while drawing fire away from humans?