770 research outputs found

    REDESIGNING THE COUNTER UNMANNED SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE

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    Includes supplementary material. Please contact [email protected] for access.When the Islamic State used Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to target coalition forces in 2014, the use of UAVs rapidly expanded, giving weak states and non-state actors an asymmetric advantage over their technologically superior foes. This asymmetry led the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to spend vast sums of money on counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS). Despite the market density, many C-UAS technologies use expensive, bulky, and high-power-consuming electronic attack methods for ground-to-air interdiction. This thesis outlines the current technology used for C-UAS and proposes a defense-in-depth framework using airborne C-UAS patrols outfitted with cyber-attack capabilities. Using aerial interdiction, this thesis develops a novel C-UAS device called the Detachable Drone Hijacker—a low-size, weight, and power C-UAS device designed to deliver cyber-attacks against commercial UAVs using the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication specification. The experimentation results show that the Detachable Drone Hijacker, which weighs 400 grams, consumes one Watt of power, and costs $250, can interdict adversarial UAVs with no unintended collateral damage. This thesis recommends that the DOD and DHS incorporates aerial interdiction to support its C-UAS defense-in-depth, using technologies similar to the Detachable Drone Hijacker.DASN-OE, Washington DC, 20310Captain, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

    DRONE DELIVERY OF CBNRECy – DEW WEAPONS Emerging Threats of Mini-Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disruption (WMDD)

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    Drone Delivery of CBNRECy – DEW Weapons: Emerging Threats of Mini-Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disruption (WMDD) is our sixth textbook in a series covering the world of UASs and UUVs. Our textbook takes on a whole new purview for UAS / CUAS/ UUV (drones) – how they can be used to deploy Weapons of Mass Destruction and Deception against CBRNE and civilian targets of opportunity. We are concerned with the future use of these inexpensive devices and their availability to maleficent actors. Our work suggests that UASs in air and underwater UUVs will be the future of military and civilian terrorist operations. UAS / UUVs can deliver a huge punch for a low investment and minimize human casualties.https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1046/thumbnail.jp

    Trajectory determinations and collection of micrometeoroids on the space station. Report of the Workshop on Micrometeorite Capture Experiments

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    Summaries of papers presented at the Workshop on Micrometeorite Capture Experiments are compiled. The goals of the workshop were to define the scientific objectives and the resulting performance requirements of a potential Space Station facility and to identify the major elements of a coherent development program that would generate the desired capabilities within the next decade. Specific topics include cosmic dust and space debris collection techniques, particle trajectory and source determination, and specimen analysis methods

    The New Way of War: Is There A Duty to Use Drones?

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    Part I of this Article briefly describes the newest battlespace occupants. Robotic systems have been taking active part in combat. They now inhabit the air, the land, and the sea. They carry out missions ranging from surveillance and bomb disposal to “destroy and disable.” Part II examines the relevant principles of LOAC. It argues that drones are not, per se, unlawful under LOAC. Rather, the critical question is the same for drones as for other types of weapons, i.e., whether the specific use of the weapon complies with LOAC. In this context, the weapon must be deployed in accordance with LOAC’s fundamental principles of humanity, proportionality, distinction, taking precautions, and military necessity. Even if a specific type of weapon is not unlawful per se (or has not been specifically prohibited by particular treaties), it may not be used improperly, e.g., in a manner that would run afoul of these principles. Part III applies the principles of LOAC to drones. First, it analyzes the general trajectories of the development of new weapons throughout human history, which has involved trading off between three main considerations, namely distance, accuracy, and lethality. Second, it examines the rise of precision-guided munitions as an attempt to balance these three considerations, increasing military efficiency while minimizing harm to civilians and civilian objects. Part IV discusses the ability of drones to combine both remote exercise of force and high accuracy to reduce lethality. Part IV also closely examines both the promised benefits that the use of drones may bring to battlespace and the challenges to their deployment. Part V returns to the question of whether states and their military commanders have an obligation to use drones in the context of an armed conflict. It argues that although there are no treaties that deal specifically with the use of drones in armed conflict and no customary norms obligating the use of drones, such a duty may be derived from the cardinal principles of the law of armed conflict. It suggests that such an interpretation is merited if we accept that drones offer the possibility of a more humane war by combining remote and accurate use of force to reduce lethality among both friendly forces and innocent civilians. Part V concludes by setting out further challenges that ought to receive careful attention in developing and elaborating on the obligation to use drones in the battlefield

    Final report of the EURISOL Design Study (2005-2009) A Design Study for a European Isotope-Separation-On-Line Radioactive Ion Beam Facility

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    European Commission Contract N°515768 RIDS Published by GANI

    The development of a warhead into an integrated weapon system to provide an advanced battlefield capability

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    This thesis addresses the topic of integration of weapons systems into communication networks to provide an advanced battlefield capability, with particular application to air launched and long range crew served weapon systems which may also be vehicle mounted. It considers the use of 'Military off-the-shelf' seeker, navigation and communication systems coupled with a novel tandem warhead system. This combination of 'low risk' technologies and a novel warhead system is intended to demonstrate a greater flexibility in weapon systems which could be exploited to reduce development risk, integration risk, qualification costs and increase target defeat capability across the wider more current target set. The use of a suitable communication and navigation system enabling integration of such a weapon system into a networked force was also investigated. This thesis is based on one area of research; Multiple Effects Weapons. Research is being undertaken by several nations on Multiple Effects Weapons. The aim of this research is not to provide a one weapon fits all solution, a panacea, the aim is to widen the utility of one system which could be employed in many roles. As yet no warhead system has achieved the types of effects that are being sought, although research and product development – particularly in the United States of America - continues. Therefore the United Kingdom government has sought to understand what technologies would be required to achieve a truly flexible warhead system which would enable defeat of large Main Battle Tanks, heavily armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Soft Skinned Vehicles, infantry and urban structures. To this end numerical modelling, design and a demonstration programme of a MEW warhead system was performed. MEW systems are not only reliant on 'Smart' warhead systems, the application of sensors, fuzing and communication systems are crucial to enable suitable employment of a 'one size fits most' approach. The other important sub-systems which provide the link to the battlefield network are also discussed in this thesis, the inclusion of these well developed low risk technologies make it is possible to bring such systems into service in the near term with increased system flexibility. The integration of such a system relies on the current United States Department of Defense procurement strategy which includes development of the Joint Tactical Radio System radio system which will allow Ad-Hoc networking between platforms, weapons systems and commanders. Airframe and propulsion technologies are not discussed; they are outside of the scope of this thesis. The use of proprietary data from suppliers other than QinetiQ has been avoided as suitable permissions are not in place, this has limited the systems engineering aspects of this thesis to high level block diagrams which provide guidance on integration issues

    Taking the ‘human’ out of humanitarian? States’ positions on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems from an International Humanitarian Law perspective

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    The debate about the legality of Lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) under humanitarian law is still ongoing. This is also due to the developing of autonomous weapon systems which might reach new milestones in autonomous technology. Thus, new legal reviews would be required. The research question of this thesis asks: In how far are lethal autonomous weapons systems in compliance with international humanitarian law and how strict is it interpreted by individual states? At first, this research examines and conceptualizes the characteristics of autonomous weapons and conducts a legal analysis on humanitarian law. LAWS are characterized by their amount of human control, the sophistication of autonomy, and functions they have

    Fully differential study of higher-order contributions to the few-body dynamics of simple atomic systems

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    ”Advancing our understanding of the few-body dynamics in simple atomic systems is one of the most important goals of atomic scattering research. In perturbation theory, this goal entails accurately describing the relative contributions from first versus higher-order mechanisms. One higher-order mechanism that is particularly important for target ionization by a charged-particle impact is known as post-collision interaction (PCI). There, the projectile and the ejected electron interact with each other at least twice. In the first interaction, the projectile transfers sufficient energy for the electron to be lifted to the continuum. The second interaction occurs in the outgoing part of the collision, where the projectile and the electron attract each other towards the initial beam axis. It is well known that PCI maximizes when the electrons are ejected with a speed close to that of the projectiles. However, a systematic study on a fully differential level of ionization by ion impact was lacking for this kinematic regime. Kinematically complete experiments on ionization of H2 and He by 75 keV proton impact were performed. Fully differential cross sections (FDCS) were extracted for a broad range of fixed electron energies for each of the targets. Pronounced post-collisional effects between the projectile and the ejected electrons were observed. The results were compared with two conceptually similar calculations, both based on distorted wave approaches. Surprising discrepancies were observed between the experimental data and theory, and also between conceptually similar theoretical models. This shows that the FDCS are very sensitive to the details of the underlying few-body dynamics in this region. Data also indicated the limitations of perturbative methods and the need for non-perturbative approaches”--Abstract, page iv

    Laser-driven charged particle transport in warm dense matter and plasma

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    [EN]This thesis focuses on the physics of intense laser-generated charged particle beam transport. The two important applications related to inertial confinement fusion and particle acceleration: (i) the transport and collimation of fast electrons created in high intensity laser-matter interactions, and (ii) ion stopping power close to the Bragg peak in extreme states of matter. Both topics have been investigated in an integrated approach that combines experimental campaigns with detailed theoretical and numerical studies used to support the experiments both in the design prior to the experiments being carried out, and in the analysis of the experimental results afterwards. The experiments presented here are are the result of a long and extended collaboration with research institutions across the EU and abroad—without whom this work would not been possible. The most important results achieved in this work can be stated as following: ‱ A first detailed parametric investigation of relativistic electron beam collimation as a controllable and reproducible technique by using the double pulse technique for fast Ignition and laser-particle and radiation sources acceleration. ‱ The establishment of a dedicated workstation for laser-driven ion sources implementation for applications including generation, selection and transport of proton beams. ‱ A first experimental measurement of proton stopping power close to the Bragg peak region in Warm Dense Matter for laser Inertial Confinement Fusion and proton particle applications using laser-driven ion sources
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