am briefing: autonomy and big data for defence

Innovation Network event 21 October 2015

Jim Pennycook

CDE Head of Operations

Military capability

Advantage

Persistent

The aim of CDE

Rapid technology change

Defence

Other markets

Utilisation

CDE evolution

Years

CDE directive

Prove the value of innovative,

high-risk, high-potential-benefit

research to enable

development of cost-effective

military capability advantage

Defence White Paper – National Security Through Technology Feb 2012

Defence and security

First point of contact

‘CDE remains our first point of

contact for those who wish to

submit a research idea to the

MOD.’

Defence White Paper – National Security Through Technology Feb 2012

Support to SMEs

Routes to market

CDE operating principles

Engage with innovators

Funded opportunities

Participation costs

Intellectual property

Managing innovation

Proof of concept

Development

Innovation Future capability

CDE MOD + investors

CDE competition space

Technology innovation lifecycle

Original idea Capability

Technology innovation lifecycle

Uptake /

commercialisation Pre-commercial

development

TRL 1 TRL 2 TRL 3 TRL 4 TRL 5 TRL 6 TRL 7 TRL8 TRL 9

Experimental

research

Technology

implementation Applied research

Curiosity

driven

research


Pre-commercial development

TRL 3 TRL 4 TRL 5 TRL 6

Applied research

Solution exploration Prototyping/test products

Phase 1 Phase 2

Phase 1

TRL 7

TRL 2


Pre Commercial Development

Solution exploration Prototyping/test products

Phase 2

TRL 3

TRL 4

TRL 5

TRL 6

Two routes to funding

Enduring

Themed

Not classified

Enduring

competition

Themed

competition

£ 7M

Enduring competition

Enduring challenges

Framework

Challenge framework

Protection Lethality

Human performance

Mobility

Situational awareness

Communication Data

Power

Lower cost of ownership

Themed competition

Competitions this year

Theme Value

Open-source big data insight £2.25M

Persistent surveillance from the air £2.25M

Agile, immersive training £2.25M

What's inside that building? £1.15M

Understand and interact with cyberspace £1.00M

Current competitions

Theme Value

Security for the internet of things £2M

Autonomy and big data for defence £4M

Future competitions

Theme Value

Synthetic biology for defence £2M

Prevention and treatment of tinnitus £1M

Online bid submission

Portal upgrade

How has CDE performed?

CDE in numbers

5938 proposals received 57%

CDE in numbers

17% of proposals funded

20% 13%

E T

CDE in numbers

934 contracts placed 43%

CDE in numbers

£57.9M invested

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

What’s next for CDE?

Innovation Network events

Innovation Network events

Date Theme

10 Feb 2016 Synthetic biology for defence

11 Feb 2016 Prevention and treatment of tinnitus

Sign up to get updates

www.gov.uk/dstl/cde

A successful proposal

Today’s competition

Autonomy and big data

Questions

21 October 2015

Paul Winstanley

Simon Christoforato

Paul Day

UK Defence Solutions Centre

“Spearheading Innovation in Defence Exports”

Context

Three major paradigm shifts impacting defence:

• Increasingly customers seek tailored solutions to meet their

specific needs; especially through collaboration and

partnership

• To deliver the most effective defence capability the defence

sector must harness technological innovation from all possible

sources.

• Need for innovative ways to fund investment for the

development and delivery of future world class defence

capabilities

To address this we need a new approach to defence innovation

The Defence Growth Partnership

“UK Government and Industry

working together to meet the

needs of customers around

the globe”

A unique partnership between UK Government and UK defence industry

We’re growing the UK defence industry making it a world leading centre of innovation

We use an objective, market led approach to deliver unmatched international collaboration and innovation by bringing new, collective and impartial insight

We work with:

• International Governments

• Defence Industry

• Small & Medium Enterprises

• Academia

• Investors

What is the UK DSC?

“UK Value

Chain”

The Global Market Opportunity

2

UK DSC video

Concepts &

Solutions

Our Ecosystem

Customer

Requirements

Analysis

Emerging view of customer needs

Opportunity to shape nascent customer thinking, show “art of the possible” and showcase “Big Ideas”

Innovative Solutions thinking Informed by comprehensive view of UK capabilities

Wider engagement in UK value chain brings new, preferably disruptive capabilities into the mix

New, or enhanced capability required to meet market need is defined by gap analysis

Enhanced capability “palette” from which to develop innovative solutions

Capability

Development

Partnering

Investment

Interventions

UKDSC Engagement

Innovation

• Defence will not be the prime

driver behind new developments

• Opportunity to leverage

technology base outside defence

• Open Innovation

• Sources

• Building on work from the previous

DGP activities, such as;

- Intelligent Systems

- UAS

• Plus other UK initiatives such as

- UK Eight Great Technologies

Innovation Challenge Scope

Persistent

Surveillance

Small SWaP

Sensors

Persistent

Surveillance

Data

Analysis

Deployable

Autonomy

Simulation &

Training

M

o

D

Market Research

I

n

d

u

s

t

r

y

External Innovations

Innovation Challenge Scope

Big

Data

For Defence

Autonomy

Persistent

Surveillance

Data

Analysis

Deployable

Autonomy

Learning More

www.ukdsc.org

http://www.ukdsc.org/

Dstl is part of the

Ministry of Defence

Autonomy and the military user Lt Col Andy Simpson RL

SO1 Fighting Vehicle Systems Dstl

22 October 2015

Photo: Lockheed Martin

Dstl is part of the

Ministry of Defence

22 October 2015

• SDSR 10. ‘We will continue the most essential investment

in S&T. We will focus investment on developing

capabilities and countering threats in key areas, such as

autonomous systems, sensors, new materials including

nanotechnology, cyber and space’.

• Defence Strategic Guidance. ‘In aggregate, the 2015

SDSR work streams on capabilities, industry and exports

must consider the role and effects of greater

autonomy… gathering and countering intelligence in

distributed networks and infrastructures, and open

innovation’.

Context

Dstl is part of the

Ministry of Defence

22 October 2015

MOD’s Future Operating Environment 35 paper

highlights the future importance of Robotic and

Autonomous Systems. In doing so, it notes they

are unlikely to replace service personnel in the

near and medium term, rather they will augment

their capabilities.

Am I soon out of a job?

Dstl is part of the

Ministry of Defence

22 October 2015

•Enhance C4ISTAR

•Tasks within dirty and dangerous environments

•Logistics support, including CASEVAC

•Force protection tasks

•Generate mass or multiple points of presence

•Conduct dull tasks

•Operating within/above/under structures

Augment what sort of capabilities?

Dstl is part of the

Ministry of Defence

22 October 2015

Photo: ASV

Dstl is part of the

Ministry of Defence

Why we are here today…

22 October 2015

•MOD will need to use autonomous vehicles in

complex environments in the air, on land and at

sea where there’s limited or out-of-date prior

knowledge about the terrain or environment.

•The autonomous vehicles will have on-board

sensors but these may be limited by the need to

be covert or to operate in harsh electro-

magnetic environments, eg GPS degraded or

denied environments.

Dstl is part of the

Ministry of Defence

22 October 2015

Maybe not this….

Dstl is part of the

Ministry of Defence

22 October 2015

But this….

UK OFFICIAL

Autonomy and big data for defence

Challenge 1: acquiring data for autonomous vehicles

Mark Emerton

© Crown copyright 2014 Dstl

22 October 2015

21 October 2015

UK OFFICIAL

Overview

• MOD autonomy research

• Autonomy levels

• Case study: civilian autonomous vehicles

• Military constraints

• What we want

• What we don’t want


22 October 2015

UK OFFICIAL

MOD autonomy research:


22 October 2015

Air

Land

Naval

Ship Systems

and Integrated

Survivability

Maritime

Freedom of

Manoeuvre

Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Defence

Logistics and

Support

Land Environment

Decision Support

Knife / Academic

Centre for Defence Enterprise

Integrated Sensing

Close Combat

Systems

UK OFFICIAL

Autonomy levels:


22 October 2015

‘Traditional’ autonomy scale:

UK OFFICIAL © Crown copyright 2015 Dstl

22 October 2015

Autonomy Levels for Unmanned Systems (ALFUS)


22 October 2015

Case study: civilian autonomous car


22 October 2015

Achieving more autonomy in military platforms

(air, land and sea) can be achieved by providing

timely and accurate ‘prior knowledge’ of the

operating environment to simplify the local

sensing and interpretation task

Opportunity

UK OFFICIAL

Known challenges

• GPS-denied environments

• Dependability of civilian infrastructure

• Harsh electromagnetic environments

• Cyber threats

• Physical threats


22 October 2015


22 October 2015

- Methods of acquiring prior knowledge of environments

for use by autonomous platforms, land, sea and air

- Methods of processing data sets to simplify or enable

their use by autonomous platforms

- Methods of exploiting prior knowledge to achieve

greater levels of autonomy in future platforms

What we want:


22 October 2015

- Vehicle platform technologies (eg airframes or

propulsion)

- Platform architectures

- Intent or threat profiling

What we don’t want:

Simon Christoforato

Head of Solutions, UK DSC

Autonomy –

defence exploitation and

exportability

Autonomy – a UK strength

Image: Transport Systems Catapult

Defence exploitation - logistics

Time

Fully Autonomous

vehicles Soldier

resupply

Logistic Convoy

Part Task Autonomy

Applique Kits

Air Delivery

…..Practical experimentation is key

Images: Lockheed Martin

Image: Boston Dynamics

Image: Scania

Image: Amazon

Image: RDM Group

Defence export opportunities

Image: IBTimes Image: QinetiQ

Coffee break

Autonomy and big data for defence:

Military overview

Lt Col D W Somerville MBE BSc CEng MIET

UK OFFICIAL

Why?

UK OFFICIAL

How do we, the UK military, win?

• In the past…..

• In the current…..

• In the future…..

UK OFFICIAL

UK OFFICIAL

Boyd’s OODA loop

Observe Decide Act

Action

(Test)

Implicit Guidance & ControlImplicit Guidance

& Control

Observations

Unfolding

Circumstances

Outside

Information

Unfolding

Interaction

With Environment

Unfolding

Interaction

With

Environment

Orientate

Decision

Feedback

Feedback

J. R. Boyd, “the Essence of Winning and

Losing,” 1995.

Cultural

Traditions

Genetic

Heritage

New

InformationPrevious

Experience

Analyses &

Synthesis

Observe Decide Act

Action

(Test)


& Control

Observations

Unfolding

Circumstances

Outside

Information

Unfolding

Interaction

With Environment

Unfolding

Interaction

With

Environment

Orientate

Decision

Feedback

Feedback


Losing,” 1995.

Cultural

Traditions

Genetic

Heritage

New

InformationPrevious

Experience

Analyses &

Synthesis

Cultural

Traditions

Genetic

Heritage

New

InformationPrevious

Experience

Analyses &

Synthesis

UK OFFICIAL

• 640 TB data transferred every minute via internet;

• Cost per Giga-FLOP:

– 2000 - $1,300.00

– 2015 - $0.08

• 90% of world’s data generated in last 2 years

• 1 Zettabyte per year generated by 2015 (to the moon

and back in stacked CD’s)

• ~ 290TB per hour generated by Wide Area

Surveillance Sensors

• ~10TB data per UAV sortie generated;

• TB’s to PB’s of unstructured data (text, imagery, video,

audio) generated on operations.

UK OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE UK OFFICIAL

Boyd’s OODA loop Observe Decide Act

Action

(Test)


& Control

Observations

Unfolding

Circumstances

Outside

Information

Unfolding

Interaction

With Environment

Unfolding

Interaction

With

Environment

Orientate

Decision

Feedback

Feedback


Losing,” 1995.

Cultural

Traditions

Genetic

Heritage

New

InformationPrevious

Experience

Analyses &

Synthesis

Observe Decide Act

Action

(Test)


& Control

Observations

Unfolding

Circumstances

Outside

Information

Unfolding

Interaction

With Environment

Unfolding

Interaction

With

Environment

Orientate

Decision

Feedback

Feedback


Losing,” 1995.

Cultural

Traditions

Genetic

Heritage

New

InformationPrevious

Experience

Analyses &

Synthesis

Cultural

Traditions

Genetic

Heritage

New

InformationPrevious

Experience

Analyses &

Synthesis

UK OFFICIAL

Other factors

• Legality – rules of engagement

• Morality

• Media

• Political acceptability

• Historical review

• Public appetite

UK OFFICIAL

Large-scale face

recognition

UK OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE UK OFFICIAL

Big data

vignettes

Why?

UK OFFICIAL

Big data for defence

CDE competition: challenges 2-4

Duncan Abercrombie


22 October 2015

Transforming the defence intelligence

community • How we traditionally conduct intelligence


22 October 2015

SWORD beach - 6 Jun 1944 Chain Home

Images from Defence Imagery Database

Transforming the defence intelligence

community

• How we will conduct intelligence in the future


22 October 2015

Image from Flickr. Credit: Christian Schnettelker www.manoftaste.de

Challenge 2: sourcing big data in

difficult environments • Variety of sources (on-board and off-board)

• Low bandwidth

• Hostile environment

• Limited computing power

• Few human resources

• Firewalls / security


22 October 2015


Challenge 3: validating sources of

big data

• There will be multiple sources of data:

– trusted

– classified

– unvalidated

– open and ambiguous

• Decision making will require a

confidence and reliability of all sources


22 October 2015


Challenge 4: managing and

visualising big data

• Collection systems will produce

large volumes of data that could

overwhelm analysts

• Data will be from

– Multiple sensors

– Diverse sensors

– Persistent sensors


22 October 2015


Paul Day

Capability Development, UK DSC

Big data for defence

Challenge 2: Sourcing in difficult environments

The Adversary

Information Assurance

Image: CNMEonline

Image: Raytheon.

Image: Raytheon.

Image: MOD, Crown Copyright

http://defense-update.com/20130307_british-destroyer-to-participate-in-u-s-missile-defense-trials.html

Challenge 3: Validating sources

Challenge 4: Managing and visualising

Export and exploitation

Image: iRevolution.wordpress.com.

Image: iRevolution.wordpress.com. Image: Crown Copyright.

Gemma Moxham

Themed Competition Manager


How will the

competition work?

What’s different?


Technology challenges

Proposed by UKDSC

Meets MOD needs

Funded by MOD

Who’s here and why?

CDE

Dstl

UKDSC

Know who you’re talking to

Face-to-face meetings

In confidence

NDA with UKDSC

Assessors

Dstl personnel

UKDSC secondees

NDA

Technical partners

Dstl personnel

MOD contract

UKDSC opportunities

Phase 1

Cost

Scope

Tim

e

Up to 6 months

Up to £100k

Proof of concept

Up to £2 million available

6 to 8 months duration

Collaboration

Phase 2

What’s the same?

www.gov.uk/dstl/cde

Funded opportunities

Online bid submission

Intellectual property

A successful proposal

What do we want?


Challenge

Acquiring data for autonomous

vehicles

1


Challenge

Sourcing big data in difficult

environments

2


Challenge

Validating sources of big data

3


Challenge

Managing and visualising big

data

4

What we don’t want

Paper-based studies

Marginal improvements

Limited benefit to defence

Project deliverables

A sound body of evidence

Demonstration of deliverable

Proposal for Phase-2 activity

Competition dates

Webinar:

3 November 2015

Start to place contracts:

Competition dates

Early January 2016

Phase 1 research delivered by:

Competition dates

30 June 2016

Marketplace and Phase 2 funding

decisions

Dates

July 2016

Competition closes

11 November 2015 at 5pm

Nov

5 11 2015

www.gov.uk/dstl/cde

Questions