The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has made the code for its SAPIENT middleware and test harness code available as open source.
The agency of the Ministry of Defence has placed the code on GitHub, under the Apache Licence version 2.0, to encourage its further adoption by government bodies and industry partners.
SAPIENT – Sensing for Asset Protection with Integrated Electronic Networked Technology – was developed by Dstl as an open standard for integrating and fusing information from multiple smart sensors into a consolidated picture to make it easier to use the data.
The move should enable sensor suppliers to test compliance of their components with the SAPIENT interface control document.
Dstl said the code has been used in a number of high profile international exercises and experiments, and adopted by the MoD as the standard for counter-UAS (uncrewed air system) technology. It is also being evaluated as a potential NATO standard for counter-drone systems.
New research body
The agency has also announced the formation of the new Defence Data Research Centre as part of the newly established Defence AI Centre. This was previously flagged up as part of the Defence AI Strategy.
It involves a consortium led by the University of Exeter and including the Universities of Liverpool and Surrey and the Digital Catapult.
It will focus on problems related to the use of data in AI applications, initially in a defence context covering areas such as logistics support and object tracking.
The centre is scheduled to go into operation from September of this year and will provide five to eight new academic posts.
Glen Hart, senior principal scientist at Dstl, commented: “This is the first centre dedicated to data research and experimentation within defence which will play a key role in future defence innovation.”
