NATO and the Netherlands have conducted a live-firing exercise in which over 30 companies and organizations showcased their counter-drone innovations.
More than 250 participants and 90 visitors joined the drill.
Technical Interoperability Exercise 2022 (TIE22) is part of NATO’s efforts to construct artificial intelligence and machine learning-powered counter-drone technologies to detect unauthorized unmanned aerial systems in alliance airspace.
During the exercise, attendees also addressed the commercial and recreational use of drones and the new challenges they present for airspace security.
This year, the exercise aimed to improve the communication and cooperation of counter-drone methods among NATO nations.
Agency experts and participants also addressed interoperability standards between commercial systems specialized in counter-drone operations.
Counter-Drone Prototypes Deployed
Through developments applied from its previous iteration, TIE22 saw the deployment of two drone-detecting prototypes: the ARTEMIS and the Drone Identification System (DroID).
The prototypes serve as assets to help the agency gain more knowledge about “the technology being used in the market and support NATO’s evolving requirements,” according to NATO.
“DroIDs is the Agency’s prototype and it uses machine learning technologies to detect and identify drones without extracting features manually,” NATO Joint Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Counter-Drone Activities Lead Cristian Coman said.
“Through the new innovations tested at this exercise, the Agency sends the message of TIE22— that [counter-drone]’s shall be integrated with existing air defense in order to guarantee NATO’s airspace remains safe.”
Further discussions regarding artificial intelligence and machine learning integration into counter-drone will be held at the upcoming three-day NATO Edge 2022 conference.