EXCLUSIVE: DHS Small Drone Test Plan Calls For Evaluating Sensors
For
'First Responder, HS Operational Communities'
By:
Anthony Kimery
03/07/2013 (12:45pm)
The
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is testing a wide variety of Small
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) sensor platforms, including one that can
determine whether individuals are armed or unarmed, for use by first responders
and frontline homeland security professionals.
The testing is
taking place at the Oklahoma Training Center for Unmanned Systems (OTC-UC), a
unit of University Multispectral
Laboratories (UML), a not-for-profit scientific institution
operated for Oklahoma State University (OSU) by
Anchor Dynamics, Inc. UML is a “Trusted Agent” for the federal government,
technology developers and operators.
DHS’s Science and
Technology Directorate’s (S&T) Borders and Maritime Security Division’s
Robotic Aircraft for Public Safety (RAPS) testing program is evaluating numerous SUA and sensor systems to identify
possible applications for first responders, including search-and-rescue
scenarios, response to radiological and chemical incidents and fire response
and mapping. In addition, the testing will help to determine whether
SUAs are suitable for use by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and US Coast
Guard to provide lower altitude, quick response situational awareness in
tactical situations.
SUAS
sensor platforms are being tested for use by "first responder and
homeland security operational communities" that “can distinguish between
unarmed and armed (exposed) personnel," as well as conducting detection,
surveillance, tracking and laser designation of targets of interest at
stand-off ranges, according to the RAPS Test Plan obtained
by Homeland Security Today.
There’s also a
requirement to test SUAS sensors for how well they can capture crime and
accident “scene data with still-frame, high definition photos.”
But there’s nothing
nefarious about having these sensor capabilities on SUAs for the needs of law
enforcement and other first responders, said a RAPS program official, who
requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the program
publicly. DHS's chief privacy official concluded that the testing program posed
no privacy issues in the Nov. 16 Privacy Impact
Assessment for the RAPS Project.
The RAPS
Test Plan also involves testing sensor suites to “enhance the search
and rescue capabilities of first responders by increasing [their] situational
awareness.” And to that end, SUA sensors are being tested for their ability to
“locate and provide the position of targets of interest satisfactorily for
search and rescue personnel in a variety of terrain and day conditions.”
To enhance fire and
disaster response capabilities of first responders by increasing their
situational awareness, SUA sensors are being tested for their ability to locate
and provide the position of fire or hot spots despite the presence of objects
that obscure their line-of-site; locate and provide the position and
concentration of chemical agents; and locate and provide the position and
concentration of radiological agents.
The RAPS
Test Plan explained that “Small Unmanned
Aircraft Systems may soon become valuable tools for first and emergency
responders and for those responsible for US border security.” It
emphasized that “SUAS can provide tactical, rapid-response capabilities and
much better situational awareness before field officers and agents respond to
and engage in potentially dangerous operations.”
The test plan
explained that “Within the United States, almost 50,000 police and fire
departments exist but only about 300 (less than 1 percent) have aviation
departments, owing primarily to the significant cost of acquiring, operating
and maintaining manned fixed-wing and rotary-wing platforms. The estimated cost
per flight hour for these assets is 300 times more expensive than commercially
available SUAS which can be operated at costs lower than those of a typical
police cruiser. But for state, county or city entities to become potential
users of SUAS, their adoption must be justifiable and affordable. Improved
sensor and platform capabilities, and economies of scale, now bring SUAS within
reach of the budgets of many small first responder organizations.”
“Considering the
size and diversity of the user communities targeted by this program,” the RAPS
Test Plan said, “our approach concerning SUAS requirements is to focus
primarily on advancing the near-term transition of good, affordable SUAS
capabilities using relatively mature solutions. Working closely with senior law
enforcement and fire operators in the field, we derived high-level SUAS needs
tied to notional, top-priority scenarios for SUAS that, if realized, may or
would provide good value to users -- depending partly on the results of testing
as envisioned” in the RAPS testing plan.
Consequently, the
test plan explained that “The purpose of [the RAPS] project is
to assess the extent to which
SUAS can enhance situational awareness in support of first responder and border
security events,” the test plan says, noting that “such events include, but are
not limited to, law enforcement response, fire response, search and rescue,
response to hazardous material (HAZMAT) spills or incidents and response to
intrusions at US international borders.” In addition, “Where feasible and
applicable, our testing will verify SUAS performance characteristics that may
impact their eventual integration into the National Air Space System.”
“As one of many
first responder support initiatives within DHS S&T, the primary outcome of
RAPS will be a knowledge and database resource consisting of test reports, user
testimonials and guidelines for adoption by the operational community,”
the RAPS Test Plan pointed out. “The RAPS team will study
fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft having gross takeoff weights of 25 lbs. or
less, typically, using key performance measures in a variety of simulated but
realistic, real-world operational scenarios that focus on the use of SUAS
technology in response to situations where human lives are in imminent danger.”
The RAPS testing is being carried out at the Ft. Sill Army
Post near Lawton, Okla. because DHS found the Army base “to be the
optimal site to conduct RAPS test operations," the test plan said. “The
ready availability of restricted airspace at Ft. Sill and its central location
within the continental US make it logistically accessible and convenient to
participating vendors.” In addition, the test plan said “the Ft. Sill test
sites offer good flying conditions year-round and provide a variety of terrain
features needed for conducting search-and-rescue and other test scenarios.”
Oklahoma has emerged
as a leader in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). DHS is working closely with the
state on the RAPS program through Gov. Mary Fallin’s Unmanned Aerial
Systems Council, as the federal initiative is being conducted
through OSU’s University Multispectral Laboratories' advanced testing facility
that's uniquely positioned within Ft. Sill’s 200 square miles of restricted
airspace.
“The strong support
of the State of Oklahoma first responder community underscored the benefits of
the Ft. Sill test site,” DHS said.
“Aerospace
represents a significant portion of our state economy and UAS is expected to be
the most dynamic growth sector within the aerospace industry in the next
decade,” said Unmanned Systems Alliance of Oklahoma (USA-OK) President, James
L. Grimsley. “This is an important time for the unmanned aerial systems
industry and for Oklahoma.”
“Successful SUAS
test operations at Ft. Sill may lead, later, to more complex SUAS operational
testing at two other Oklahoma sites,” the RAPS Test Plan said.
These sites are the Oklahoma National Guard’s Camp Gruber and the University
Multispectral Laboratory’s test site at Chilocco, Okla., “both of which have
varied and realistic urban complex facilities.”
The RAPS program
began with DHS’s Request for Information (RFI)
issued on Sept. 24, 2012 seeking white papers from SUAS vendors interested in
participating in the testing project. The deadline for the papers was Oct. 31,
2012.
However, the testing
program “is not linked to any intended procurement action, nor does it imply
intent to initiate such action,” DHS explained.
Public and congressional
concerns over the expanding use of UAVs of all kinds by federal, state and
local law enforcement were exacerbated recently following a report by CNET.com
that DHS has “customized its Predator drones” to be able to “identify civilians
carrying guns and tracking their cell phones.”
CNET.com reported
that DHS’s “specifications for its drones … ‘shall be capable of identifying a
standing human being at night as likely armed or not,’” and that “They also
specify ‘signals interception’ technology that can capture communications in
the frequency ranges used by mobile phones and ‘direction finding’ technology
that can identify the locations of mobile devices or two-way radios.”
The disclosure was
based on an apparent “unredacted copy” of the May 26, 2005, CBP Office of Air
and Marine (OAM) Performance Specification for the DHS/Customs and
Border Protection Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System document that
DHS released in redacted form to the Electronic Privacy Information Center
(EPIC) pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Most of the
redactions, though, were made pursuant to legitimate FOIA exemptions
authorizing the withholding of records compiled for law enforcement purposes or
that would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement
investigations.
Much of the redacted
information deals with sensitive operational and performance capabilities of
CBP’s fleet of Predators, as well sensitive technical data on the UAVs’ sensor
packages and specifications.
A CBP spokesman told
CNET.com the agency “is not deploying signals interception capabilities on its
UAS fleet. Any potential deployment of such technology in the future would be
implemented in full consideration of civil rights, civil liberties and privacy
interests and in a manner consistent with the law and long-standing law
enforcement practices.”
DHS's RAPS Program
Manager, Dr. John Appleby, told Homeland Security Today the
department “is very sensitive to the privacy and civil rights issues that are
involved with our [UAV] systems and testing.”
But privacy rights
advocates don’t see it that way. EPIC’s Ginger McCall, director of the group’s
Open Government Project, has said CBP’s UAS requirements documents “clearly
evidence that the Department of Homeland Security is developing drones with
signals interception technology and the capability to identify people on the
ground," and that "This allows for invasive surveillance, including
potential communications surveillance, that could run afoul of federal privacy
laws."
A DHS official who
spoke to Homeland Security Today on background about the issue
explained that CBP needed to have “a whole host of requirements for its
[Predators] for all possible needs to support border security operations, but
that doesn’t mean they’re all being used … people jump to all sorts of
conclusions based on what they think they know or understand.”
The official said
the Predators are capable of distinguishing whether objects detected on the
ground are people, animals, vehicles or something else, and emphasized that
this capability is needed when, for example, the UAVs are being used to support
Border Patrol agents on the ground who are trying to apprehend human- or
narco-traffickers in difficult terrain or circumstances, or when conducting
border surveillance missions for potential illegal cross-border activity.
But this capability
isn’t any different from ground-based radar that can distinguish between a
human and a truck CBP has tested that may be incorporated into its
Integrated Fixed Tower programHomeland Security Today examined in
detail last Oct.
As for the
deployment of communications interception technology on CBP’s Predators,
officials adamantly said there are numerous legal issues involved “that would
have to be worked out” before this capability can routinely be used.
Photo top:
AeroVironment, Inc.'s Qube public safety UAS
Photo bottom:
Lockheed Martin’s Desert Hawk UAS
