Novel structure to disrupt and neutralise car bombs
Car bombs are often used by terrorists to strike at the heart of cities and unsuspecting populations. These make for effective strikes as vehicles are ideal to load with explosives and park in a targeted area. This also makes it very difficult for emergency services or police to examine and remove a suspect device. The EU-funded AVERT (The autonomous vehicle emergency recovery tool (AVERT) provides a capability rapidly to deploy, extract and remove both blocking and suspect vehicles from vulnerable positions and confined spaces) project worked on facilitating the extraction and removal of both obstructing and suspect vehicles from tight spots. Project partners began by outlining system requirements, defining user needs and developing required software. They developed a tool enabling police, security forces and emergency services to safely and quickly neutralise threats from vehicles parked in restricted access areas such as confined spaces, tunnels, low bridges and underground car parks. The fully autonomous AVERT system works by remotely scanning and rapidly mapping a given area. It captures data on surroundings, observes wheel angles and potential obstacles in order to plan an extraction route. Using bogies, the suspect vehicle is then removed from the scene in any direction and extracted along a planned route. Bogie sensors help to avoid obstacles. The system allows for manual control at any time should the need arise, and can operate together with existing technologies. AVERT will enhance bomb disposal response, speed and safety. This should help to mitigate or eliminate collateral damage.
Keywords
Car bombs, bogies, vehicle emergency recovery tool, suspect vehicles
