Smart Combat Vehicles: Sensor Networks for Battlefield Survival

On the turret of the ACV-30 amphibious combat vehicle, you can see the Thales Catherine thermal imaging sensor, which provides advanced threat detection and imaging capabilities for the weapon station and crew.

[Foreign Media, 2024.11]The threat environment for ground vehicle platforms has changed significantly. Mobile formations now face multiple threats, including kinetic counter threats, unmanned aerial system threats, and non-kinetic effects such as active electronic warfare, or a combination of both. Electronic warfare (EW) poses a particular challenge, requiring not only the ability to detect and respond to threats but also to understand and mitigate the formation’s own electronic warfare characteristics to reduce the likelihood of being detected by the enemy.

These integrated threats are being mitigated through a triad operational structure that provides comprehensive battlefield awareness, threat detection capabilities, and the ability to deny or reduce these threats. Together, they provide a means for maneuver forces to understand the situation around their formations and each individual platform. In these scenarios, achieving situational awareness relies on three categories of key technologies:

Integrating thermal imagers, cameras, and acoustic detection systems into vehicle platforms to enhance situational awareness for personnel in armored operations.
Networked systems that enable data sharing and coordination within the formation through powerful networking and interoperability standards such as C5ISR/EW Modular Open Standards (CMOSS) and VICTORY.
Power management through intelligent distribution and control systems to support increased sensor and processing loads, reduce signal features, and enable silent surveillance capabilities.

Although specific threats and capability requirements may vary in areas of responsibility such as U.S. Central Command or European Command, the core principles of situational awareness, threat detection, and countermeasure capabilities remain crucial for ensuring the survivability of vehicles and personnel.

“We now have to assume we are always operating in contested environments,” said Erik Balascik, Director of Ground Vehicle Business Development at Thales Defense and Security, Inc. “If you are the commander of an armored platform, you are now operating in a confined environment, that is, inside your vehicle. Now, considering the threats and technologies affecting personnel and vehicle survivability, personnel operate under a closed hatch. They are physically located inside the vehicle, either in the turret or in the hull, and they must rely on external sensors to gain situational awareness.”

Sensors for Closed Hatch Operations

For vehicle survivability, the most important types of sensors include infrared sensors for vision, acoustic sensors for shooting protection, and thermal imagers for targeting.

(1) HD Minerva Infrared Thermal Imaging Sensor

HD Minerva is Thales’s latest uncooled thermal imaging sensor, serving as the “external eyes” for driver vision enhancement (DVE) and localized situational awareness (LSA), playing a crucial role when vehicle personnel conduct armored maneuvers.

Thales’s Minerva HD uncooled thermal imaging sensor serves as the “external eyes” for vehicle personnel during combat under armor, with its 1280×1024 HD detector providing two times the pixels compared to the previous VGA sensor.

Minerva is designed and manufactured by Thales at its global uncooled technology center in Canada, integrating uncooled long-wave infrared (LWIR) HD 1280×1024, 12-micron detectors—rare in uncooled devices—and a full HD 1920×1080 visible light module. The sensor outputs all-digital 60 Hz video (3G-SDI), with low latency and automatic image processing algorithms ensuring users can optimize situational awareness immediately without adjustment, experiencing lag-free operation. This means users can rely on real-time images to provide the information needed for rapid action, feel secure, and gain critical tactical advantages.

“The pixels our cameras provide are twice that of previous sensors, and personnel will immediately feel this difference based on the equipment they have used in the past,” Balascik said. “You can see farther and clearer than standing outside the vehicle with your own eyes. It’s a completely different way to experience the surrounding world and understand what your vehicle and other vehicles in the formation are doing.”

(2) HD Minerva Acoustic Sensor

If HD Minerva is the eyes of the enhanced driver vision enhancement (DVE)/localized situational awareness (LSA) system, then the gunshot protection provided by Thales’s Acusonic system is the ears. The Acusonic gunshot detection system overcomes inherent weaknesses of other shooting detection systems. It does not rely solely on capturing muzzle flash to provide accurate direction—which is a fatal weakness of other systems due to false positives—Acusonic also utilizes the supersonic shockwave and wake features of projectiles to enhance muzzle flash detection, thereby providing detection and threat localization capabilities in complex battlefield environments.

Thales’s Acusonic system for robotic applications transforms the system into a multifunctional sensor by providing remote control capabilities for robotic vehicle operators.

“This is where we differ from previous systems,” Balascik said, noting that Acusonic has been selected for the UK Army’s Ajax armored vehicle and Boxer mechanized infantry vehicle projects. “It is being tested on multiple prototypes in the U.S., and our recognition is due to the fact that the system does not continuously issue false positives. It is actually a force multiplier rather than a hindrance.” It has proven effective not only on land mobile platforms but also in water, providing accurate enemy firepoint location information for special forces operating in coastal or river environments where enemy positions may be concealed.

The signals collected from Acusonic can also play a significant role on ground robotic platforms (such as the XM30 mechanized infantry vehicle), providing what is known as “remote control” capabilities. Most robotic vehicles only offer visual perception, but those equipped with Acusonic allow operators to not only see what the robot sees but also hear the sounds it collects, thus gaining a better understanding of the surrounding environment.

(3) Thermal Imaging and Laser Rangefinders

The third category of critical sensors for vehicle survivability is thermal imaging and laser rangefinders for target localization. Thales has a broad product portfolio for target localization, including a cooled thermal imager called SharpView, which has been integrated into the Marine Corps Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) air defense vehicle, and a system known as the Panoramic Armored Overhead Gimbal (PAAG).

PAAG is a compact, stable 360-degree electronic surveillance and targeting system that provides multiple functions for vehicle commanders and personnel through a combination of sensors. These sensors include cooled thermal imagers and high-resolution daytime color cameras (both with continuous zoom capabilities), as well as laser rangefinders and laser target designators. Together, they provide personnel with day-and-night, all-weather long-range threat detection and identification, weapon aiming, and fire support capabilities. All operations can be remotely controlled from within the vehicle to ensure personnel are protected at all times.

“Whether for air defense systems like MADIS or for new vehicles like the Marine Corps Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle, our camera systems provide these vehicle personnel with next-generation thermal imagers,” Balascik said. “This is critical as the military upgrades to 30mm medium caliber weapon system turrets. This means you need thermal imagers with additional range to be able to see the same maximum effective range as the weapon system.”

Intelligent Power Management and Standards

Integrating these systems in space-constrained vehicles presents unique challenges. For example, the vehicle systems themselves need to have certain intelligent functions, such as in-vehicle network management and especially energy management.

“Compared to vehicles from years ago, our vehicles today can make more decisions, but they are still a means of transportation from point A to point B and have only limited power to drive these vehicles and power the systems within them,” said Patrick Allison, Business Development Director of TDSI. “Without power, you cannot go to war; it is absolutely necessary, and how you manage that power may determine whether your operational plans succeed or fail.”

Thales has a range of power management systems that not only allocate power but also deliver the right amount of power to various systems on the vehicle, which also helps to mitigate vehicle signature management. Power loads are intelligently managed, allowing operators to draw power from one area as needed and reserve it for other uses. This is particularly important during nighttime and covert operations, allowing personnel to keep systems running for silent surveillance capabilities without the vehicle being powered on.

Compliance with standards like CMOSS and VICTORY is a key enabling technology that allows governments and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to integrate new capabilities into vehicles as threats and demands evolve. “In the command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) domain, vehicles launched after 2030 will require compliance with CMOSS and CMFF standards,” Allison noted. “This will enable the Army to upgrade these platforms or add systems based on open standards and architectures and interfaces that allow systems to be interchangeable across different platforms. Thales is researching the C4I aspects of CMOSS and providing capabilities for voice and data transmission on the battlefield.”

(The content of this article is compiled from internet sources for communication and learning purposes.)

Source: Software Defined World