Swarm final presentation

1. seekSWARMdestroy
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Problem Statement: Due to challenging constricted waters, the Straits of Hormuz offer ample opportunity
for non state actors to functionalize autonomous swarm devices for ISR and attack missions. The US
Navy lacks the capability to adequately detect, characterize/differentiate, and determine an appropriate
response to these complex threats.
Week 0 problem:
How to detect/defeat
Unmanned Underwater
Autonomous Vehicles
“Swarms”.
Week 6 problem:
Protect the Navy’s infrastructure
from Autonomous swarms from
non-state actors in The Straits of
Hormuz
Raina Borum
NanoEngineering
Sikandar (Andy) Bangash
Bioinformatics

2. - World's most important transit chokepoint
- Oil flow of ~17 million barrels per day
- Nearby Threats:
- ISIS
- AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula)
- IRGCN (Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Corps Navy)
- Others non-state actors...
- Neighboring Nations:
- Iran
- UAE
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Oman
- Bahrain
- Kuwait
- Iraq
- Nearby Threats: ISIS, IRGCN (Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy), &
AQAP (Al-Qaeda).
The Straits of Hormuz
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- 21 miles wide (narrowest region)
- 25-200 meters deep
- 2-mile wide shipping channels.
- Average Naval ship speed: 15 knots ~
20 knots.
- Innocent passage: 12-miles out from
country’s border

3. 3
2015 IRGCN Power-missile Speedboat Swarm Practice

4. Data Acquisition
● Sonar Tech.
● Fire Controlman
● Inorganic and
Organic sources
● STS, STG, FC
● Intelligence specialists (IS)
● Intel Watch Officer
● Tactical Action Officer
● “ASAP” decision maker
● Evasion
● Masking
● Countermeasure
● Engagement
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Tactical
Response
Reporting
● Incident Data
● Lessons Learned
● After Action Reports
Customer Workflow

5. User Archetype
Sonar Technician 1st Class Jessica Bonilla
● STS, STG
● 7-9 week boot camp, 18-week A-School
on electronics, computers, and sensors
● Four sea and four shore tours, roughly
36 weeks each.
● Prepare and interpret sonar messages
● Analyze, interpret and report all acoustic
data
● Operate underwater communications
equipment.
● Identify sounds produced by surface
ships, torpedoes, submarines, evasion
devices, sonar transmissions, marine
life and natural phenomena
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6. User Archetype
Fire Controlman 2nd Class Geoffrey Bell
● 7-9 Week boot camp
● 27-33 week A-School on electronics,
mathematics, and computer theory
● Manage digital systems onboard
● In charge of operating weapon systems
● Maintain, fix, operate, employ.
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7. User Archetype
Tactical Action Officer Lt. Mary Lowell
● Responsible for weapons release
● Required Education: Surface Warfare Officer
School (SWOS) - high simulation training
● Must first: Combat Direction Center Watch
Officer, Air Defense Weapons Coordinator.
● Highly skilled with computers, sensor
technologies.
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8. 8

9. 9
Methodology for Swarm Defense
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10. 10

11. - Fuse sensor data
- Display and organize
data to indicate swarm
threats
- Detect other threats from
which the swarms are
drawing attention
- Single system
monitoring.
- Sensor Fusion
- Recommend reaction
based on type of swarm
threat
- Classification of swarm v.
non-swarm
- Faster threat
classification
Sonar operator and
controller aboard the
ship
Fire controlman
Tactical Action Officer
Scripps
UCSD Jacobs School of
Engineering
Defense Contractors
SPAWAR
Naval Postgraduate
School
Office of Naval
Research
Academic Secondary
Research
Simulation
Stakeholder Interviews
Visual Computing Lab
Local Startups
-Planck Aerosystems
-Robosub
-Ocean Aero
Zoic Labs
Combatant commanders
Naval SEA Systems command
SMEs
Chief of Naval Training
Testing at JTFX
Demonstrate/test at Naval RIMPAC
Appeal to early adopters, such as
SOCOM
Increase probability of detecting swarms (eg. “Detection raised by 50%”)
Protect lives/vessels/infrastructure from swarm attacks
Hacking for Defense: UCSD seekSWARMdestroy
11/2/2016
Iteration #5
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12. Hypotheses & MVP
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Hypotheses:
● Swarms can be classified using fused data sources
● Different swarm types have different vulnerabilities
● Tactical reactions to swarms will be faster and more
effective if their characteristics are displayed to US
Navy warfighters
User Interface:

13. Our Journey
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Emotional
State
Time (Weeks)
Understood the
Navy’s problem.
Great!
Ooops. Everything
is classified??
Classified
CLASSIFIED!!
Team, Let’s characterize
swarm vulnerabilities.
MIdterms
Midterms
Midterms!!!
Back at it again!!!

14. Thank You!
Stakeholders / Technology Experts
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• Mr. Saad Ansari (Office of the
Undersecretary of the Navy)
• Dr. Ray Buettner
(Naval Postgraduate School)
• Our initial results are being used by the US Navy
Wargame hosted by the National Defense
University

15. Going Forward
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Spare Change?
• Continue research and academic collaboration.
• Learn more about the Navy
• Tours
• Interviews
• Seeking funding to develop a prototype.