Project description
New technology to protect EU borders
With over 42 000 km of coastline and around 9 000 km of land borders, monitoring the EU’s external borders is a complex job that requires multidimensional collaborations and new technologies. To support border surveillance applications, the EU-funded BorderUAS project is developing a multi-role lighter-than-air unmanned aerial vehicle with an ultra-high resolution multi-sensor surveillance payload. The remote sensing payload will include a synthetic aperture radar (SAR), laser detection and ranging (LADAR), shortwave/longwave infrared (SWIR/LWIR) and acoustic cameras for direct target detection as well as optical and hyperspectral cameras for indirect detection (from vegetation disturbance). The technology will be tested by police based along illegal border crossings in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus.
Objective
The project will combine for the first time a multi-role lighter-than-air (LTA) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with an ultra-high
resolution multi-sensor surveillance payload supporting border surveillance as well as search & rescue applications, and
specifically rough terrain detection. The sensor payload will include synthetic aperture radar (SAR), laser detection and
ranging (LADAR), shortwave/longwave infrared (SWIR/LWIR) and acoustic cameras for direct target detection, as well as
optical and hyperspectral cameras for indirect detection (via vegetation disturbance).
The project will use the ground-based infrastructure of border police units (command & control centres), innovative data
models (to identify illegal crossing patterns and preferred routes) and advanced audio/video analytics and storage (to
provide additional detection capabilities).
The technology concepts will be validated in the field by 6 border police units (Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova,
Ukraine, Belarus) covering 3 major illegal migration routes into Europe (Eastern Mediterranean, Western Balkan and Eastern
Borders Routes), which represent 58% of all illegal border crossings detected and are also the most used for smuggling of
drugs, weapons and stolen vehicles.
The combined solution will provide high coverage, resolution and revisit time with a lower cost (4 EUR/kg/hr) than satellites
and higher endurance (100 kg payload for 12 hours) than drones. Based on the field trial results, the consortium expects to
develop a solution that can be deployed further by European border polices after project completion. The project will also
involve the contribution of NGOs working with illegal migration and human right protection issues, as well as regulatory
experts dealing with the ethics and privacy requirements of border surveillance solutions
Fields of science
- social sciencespolitical sciencespolitical policiescivil societynongovernmental organizations
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsoptical sensors
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technology
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsradio technologyradar
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsautonomous robotsdrones
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
013685 Bucuresti
Romania
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.