Snipers Beware!



Remote operated robotic sniper systems come of age


By Prasun K. Sengupta

In a bid to strengthen defences against high-profile assassinations, South and Southeast Asian elite forces tasked with providing close proximate security to VVIPs and their families are upgrading their counter-sniping capabilities. Despite the development of protective technologies and the more potent threat of a suicide bombing, pre-planned long-range sniper attacks against high-profile personalities remain a nightmare for several proximate security agencies worldwide. To neutralise such threats, companies in the US and Israel have developed robotic sniper/mortar detection systems that are capable of being remotely operated. In the US, iRobot Corp and The Photonics Center at Boston University have introduced a tactical sensory system payload prototype, dubbed REDOWL, which stands for Robot Enhanced Detection Outpost with Lasers, and which can detect and locate snipers and mortars on the very first shot fired at personnel or vehicles. The REDOWL is a robotic head that looks more like a PowerPoint projector than a sharpshooter’s worst enemy. But don’t let its circuit-city appearance fool you: controlled by a laptop-wielding person, the REDOWL’s superior senses can read a nametag from across a football field and identify the make and model of a sniper rifle fired a mile away simply by analysing the sound of the distant blast. REDOWL’s remote-controlled, deployable sensor suite has been designed to provide early warning information, gunshot detection, intelligence, surveillance and targeting capabilities to military forces and close proximate security agencies. The REDOWL-equipped PackBot robotic vehicle has already been field-tested for the US Army’s Rapid Equipping Force at a rifle and trapshooting range. Of the more than 150 rounds fired from 9mm pistols, M-16 and AK-47 rifles from more than 100 metres, the REDOWL located the source of gunfire successfully 94 per cent of the time. The iRobot PackBot fitted with REDOWL can be hand-carried and deployed by a single person. It is currently in use in both Afghanistan and Iraq for searching dangerous or inaccessible areas, providing soldiers with a safe first-look so they know what to expect and how to respond.

The REDOWL’s sensor package features an array of optronics and acoustic detection systems, including a laser pointer and illuminator, acoustic localiser and classifier, thermal imager, GPS receiver, an infra-red camera, and two wide-angle daylight TV cameras. When integrated with the PackBot, these systems enable the robot to accurately detect, locate and identify the origination point of hostile gunfire. These systems also make REDOWL ideal for day time and night time urban surveillance, reconnaissance, hostage rescue/counter-barricade situations, forward observation outposts and perimeter protection missions. REDOWL’s Acoustic Direction-Finding (ADF) system has been developed by BioMimetic Systems, a Photonics Center portfolio company. The ADF is based on advanced neural circuits emulating human hearing and provides accurate detection and bearing information in high background noise environments. In addition to providing its PackBot robot platform, iRobot has developed the software and behaviours for the robot. Insight Technology, a manufacturer of high-performance visible and infra-red laser and illuminator systems, has headed up the development of REDOWL’s optronic systems. When a shot is fired, the incoming sound waves pass over four microphones, and a processor passes the data to pinpoint the source of the sound, all in a few milliseconds. The system can recognise weapons by their acoustic signature, and thus ignore friendly fire. A central camera allows the remote operator to see where the REDOWL is going, and a powerful zoom camera enables the operator to study potential snipers without getting too close. REDOWL’s lasers can illuminate a target up to 1.6km away. Because the laser is operating in the infra-red spectrum, the sniper won’t be aware that he is in the spotlight, but personnel with night-vision goggles will see him perfectly. A laser rangefinder bounces a beam off the target, and REDOWL calculates the intervening distance. Factoring in its own GPS position and using a magnetic compass to determine the direction in which it is looking, REDOWL can figure out the location of a target 3,000 feet away, which in turn allows special operations troops to call in friendly precision air strikes.

A similar system from Israel’s RAFAEL Armament Development Authority, called SpotLite-P, and is believed to have been acquired by India, Singapore and Thailand. The SpotLite-P comes equipped with an optronic system designed for the precise location of small arms fire sources. The system detects multiple small arms/sniper fire sources simultaneously, day and night, at long ranges and with high precision and detection probabilities. The SpotLite-P is thus capable of investigating the fire sources detected, verifying that it is actually enemy fire, transferring verified targets to friendly snipers and thereby closing the sensor-to-shooter loop quickly and efficiently.