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Dstl announces competition for autonomous gap crossing survey technology

Land February 7, 2020

Dstl has released competition information for autonomous gap crossing survey technology for use during missions.

Dstl is seeking autonomous gap crossing survey tools to help personnel cross bodies of water and other ‘gaps’ in the map. Currently, the only way of identifying suitable crossing points is to send Royal Engineer reconnaissance troops to survey both banks of the river.

This exposes them to danger at the forward edge of the battlefield and also risks compromising the potential crossing point by signalling our interest in that location. The concept envisages a semi-autonomous remote system that can collect the required measurements without the need to deploy personnel to the potential crossing location.

Such a system could enable the survey of a greater number of crossing locations, increasing the choices available to the commander and giving an opportunity to surprise the enemy. This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition, run on behalf of the Defence and Science Technology Laboratory (Dstl), aims to develop and demonstrate a number of system demonstrators able to tackle some of the key issues of gap crossing survey.

Dstl: Official partner of DPRTE 2020.

Phase 1 contracts will be run for no longer than 10 months, culminating in a demonstration of the systems in a representative environment at technology readiness level (TRL) 5 (Technology basic validation in a relevant environment). The total funding for Phase 1 of the project is expected to be £1.2m, with a further £2.5m anticipated for Phase 2 activities.

The launch event will be on 4 February 2020, where there will be the opportunity to hear a presentation about the competition, have 1-to-1 sessions with the project team, and meet and interact with soldiers currently employed to carry out the role. An additional dial-in event and a number of 1-to-1 sessions (15 mins per session) with DASA and the project team will be available on 13 February 2020.

Defence Online is the official media partner of DPRTE 2020. To book your exhibition or sponsorship package please contact the team today on 0845 270 7066 or exhibitions@dprte.co.uk

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Post written by: Vicky Maggiani

Vicky has worked in media for over 20 years and has a wealth of experience in editing and creating copy for a variety of sectors.