The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) in the UK has awarded contracts worth a total of £1.3 million ($1.7 million), for Phase 1 in the Map the Gap programme to develop semi-autonomous reconnaissance and survey systems.
Map the Gap is run on behalf of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). It sought ideas from industry and academia to create a new remote system capable of surveying potential water crossing sites.
Five SMEs obtained funding to fast-track their solutions and test them with the British Army.
Scytronix (£251,900) proposes a drone-mountable crossing assessment system that uses novel low-frequency electromagnetic scanning techniques.
Wight Ocean (£309,282) is developing an amphibious bottom crawler to navigate and transit water crossing to gather near real-time data for analysis.
Nordic Unmanned (£272,656) will demonstrate UAS sensors and data exploitation, plus a semi-autonomous capability for engineer reconnaissance.
Digital Concepts Engineering (£331,133) is developing a teamed UGV/UAV solution with a variety of sensors to gather, aggregate and present data.
Foundry Cube (£177,789) is working with Ultrabeam Hydrographic to demonstrate a pedalo-style autonomous and amphibious hydrographic survey vehicle, using sonar, lidar and other techniques such as laser light and measuring reflection.
Col Simon Bradley, Assistant Head Manoeuvre Support, Ground Manoeuvre Capability British Army, said: ‘Replacing and/or augmenting manned reconnaissance with a remote, beyond line-of-sight system will not only reduce the threat to life; it will also offer the ability to survey multiple crossing sites in a far more timely and efficient manner.’
Map the Gap Phase 2 is expected to include an additional £2.5 million in funding.
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