A pre-standard agreement for Counter-UAS testing methodology has been developed within the framework of the EU Funded Project COURAGEOUS. Announced last week at Project COURAGEOUS’ Final Meeting hosted in INTERPOL’s Headquarters in Lyon, the CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA-18150) seeks to enable a standardised test methodology for UAS detection, tracking and identification systems.
As member states face an increase in the illicit use of drones without cohesive regional policies to manage the threat, a standardised approach to C-UAS is urgently needed. According to Geert de Cubber, COURAGEOUS Project Manager “we globally need a better common understanding of the performance & capabilities of Counter-UAS technologies”. He continued, “for this purpose, COURAGEOUS is working in the EU on a standardised Counter-UAS testing methodology and the results are being shared with the end-user community”.
CWA-18150, which was developed in accordance with the CEN-CENELEC guide to enable a rapid way to standardisation, used data from deliverables produced in Project COUREAGEOUS and collaborated with industry to validate the testing procedures and methodology. The document aims to provide an open architecture for users to easily undertake fair qualitative and quantitative comparisons between different C-UAS systems. A total of 823 drone incidents from around the world were collected and analysed to identify trends and highlight any gaps that need to be addressed to ensure a unified and coordinated approach to the threat of drones across member states.
This pre-standard test methodology is centred entirely around the detection, tracking, and identification (DTI) aspects of the Counter-UAS “kill chain”, emphasising qualitative and quantitative assessments of DTI systems, configured as integrated solutions as they are presented to end-users. The objective is to achieve a more coordinated approach to assessing the performance of DTI systems and ultimately a much better understanding of the capabilities of Counter-UAS systems within the EU network of law enforcement agencies.
The document targets different stakeholders, providing actionable insights for the Counter-UAS industry, law enforcement agencies, and policy makers. For industry solution-providers, it offers an insight into the operational needs and performance requirements of end-users, while also presenting a standardised way of testing and communicating performance requirements. For end-users, CWA-18150 showcases a way of developing and validating requirements specifications for better procurement decisions. It also provides a standardised approach for performance measurements in order to ensure Counter-UAS solutions match operational needs. For policy makers, it enables a better understanding of the Counter-UAS landscape, and of capabilities of C-UAS systems, through standardised testing methods.
Post Image Credit: Project COURAGEOUS
