West Point Cadet Helps Army Engineers Optimize Drone Defense Algorithms

Cadet Alex Anteen of the United States Military Academy at West Point collaborated with U.S. Army engineers to develop engagement algorithms designed to optimize the defeat of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). According to army.mil, the project aims to increase the number of drones an air defense system can neutralize before exhausting its ammunition by shifting away from targeting the nearest threat toward intelligent target clustering.

Anteen, a member of the class of 2028, spent three weeks at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey working with scientists from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Armaments Center. The research focuses on creating alternative engagement algorithms that analyze data including drone speed, altitude, payload capacity, and swarm density to determine the most efficient defeat mechanism, according to dvidshub.net.

Optimizing Munitions for Drone Swarms

The project addresses a gap in traditional air defense, which army.mil reports can be tactically inefficient or cost-prohibitive when deployed against swarms of small, commercially available drones. The new algorithms utilize machine learning and advanced probabilistic models to help commanders preserve high-value munitions for high-value targets while using cheaper, non-kinetic options for lower-tier threats.

Alex’s work and contributions look at moving away from simply targeting the nearest threat. Rather, the approach emphasizes the smart clustering of targets and the choice of engagement tactics based on the capabilities of our munitions/systems and the makeup of the threat. The objective is to account for various variables to refine the time used to engage a mass of UAS threats, thereby ensuring a single system maximizes UAS defeat.

The system is designed to select the most appropriate countermeasure based on the specific threat, including electronic warfare, directed energy, or kinetic interceptors, according to dvidshub.net.

Operations Research and Simulation Results

Anteen is majoring in Operations Research at West Point, a discipline shared by the Department of Mathematical Sciences and the Department of Systems Engineering. Army.mil states the major trains cadets to use data science, quantitative methods, and mathematical modeling to optimize decisions regarding scarce resources.

The algorithms are currently in the simulation and modeling phase, where they are being tested against multi-axis drone swarm scenarios. Early results show a reduction in the depletion rate of localized air defense magazines and a significant increase in engagement efficiency, according to army.mil.

The collaboration is intended to accelerate the development of counter-UAS (C-UAS) technologies for soldiers while providing Anteen with engineering experience before he commissions as a Second Lieutenant, dvidshub.net reports.