Mobile phones help protect Ukraine from attacks by Russian drones. Photo: Efrem Lukatsky/ap
Ukraine is using a network of thousands of mobile phones deployed across the country to track incoming drones and missiles.
A project that Ukrainian sources say is too secret to discuss in details were revealed by the most senior US Air Force officer in Europe at a recent event.
General James Hecker, head of the US Air Force in Europe, described the simplest acoustic sensors as a network of thousands of cell phones attached to six-foot poles.
The Kiev National Air Defense Command and Control Network, known as Virage, relies on both at least 40 separate types of sensor networks to detect, track and identify airborne threats.
Acoustic sensors collect unusual sounds from the environment before artificial intelligence is used to determine whether the anomalies are incoming kamikaze drones or missiles.
Dr Thomas Withington, an air defense expert at the Royal Armed Forces Institute, said: «It's interesting that this technology is coming back because it was in vogue before the invention of radar in the 1920s and 1930s.»
«In a sense, history is coming full circle, but with adaptation to technological age that we have today.»
The simplest sensor, produced by the non-governmental organization Sky Fortress, is being deployed in areas close to the front line in Ukraine. It is built around an Android smartphone, placed in a box with other commercially available technologies.
Mobile phones are always on and record data to detect approaching aerial targets, and they use local mobile phone networks to transmit information. Let's return to the centralized system.
The Telegraph can reveal that the systems are being funded under the Safe Skies initiative, a scheme set up under President Volodymyr Zelensky's United24 platform.
< p>Describing the system, Digital Transformation Minister Mikhail Fedorov told The Telegraph last year: “This really useful for us to better understand what's going on in our skies.»
«This is quite a revolutionary breakthrough technology.»
The scheme involves raising funds to purchase 12,500 sensors, built by the Ukrainian firm Ajax Systems, for deployment in the Sumy, Odessa, Nikolaev and Kherson regions.
The second system, used by the Ukrainian armed forces, is known as “Zvok” and uses similar acoustic technologies to provide a better image of the sky over the country.
Mikhail Fedorov praises the “revolutionary” air defense system of mobile phones and microphones . Photo: Global Images Ukraine/Global Images Ukraine
The machine learning company's sensors use microcomputers instead of cell phones to detect drones from three miles away, cruise missiles from four miles away and ballistic missiles from six miles away.
The system is aided by artificial intelligence. differentiate between the sound of a mooing cow and approaching drones.
Marjan Sulym, CEO of Zvook, told The Telegraph: “We detect airborne threats and then the military can turn on radar systems to target a specific region.
“It's a support system. It doesn't replace radar, but makes it more effective.»
The company currently covers five percent of Ukraine — 5,400 square miles — with its 210 sensors.
It is estimated that it can cover the entire country with 8,000 of its devices, which cost approximately £400 to produce.< /p>
The systems have been installed on critical infrastructure such as telephone masts and electrical substations since winter 2022.
When Ukraine was recently attacked by 84 kamikaze drones, acoustic systems for example were used to provide ground crews information about their trajectories.
General James Hecker lifts the lid on the Ukrainian anti-drone defense system. Photo: FETHI BELAID/afp
General Hecker said mobile fire teams were able to intercept at least 80 unmanned aerial vehicles containing this information.
He said NATO countries were also now studying whether the equipment could be used to strengthen their own air defense systems. defense.
p>
During the Second World War, acoustic systems were built on the British coast of Kent.
Giant concrete dome-shaped structures known as mirrors were used to amplify the sound of approaching enemy aircraft. Observers could compare the reflected sounds to calculate altitude, speed and flight path.
And in the late 1960s, the US Air Force deployed an array of heat and motion sensors in the jungles of Vietnam to eavesdrop on Viet Cong conversations. . However, the Vietnamese soon discovered the location of the listening devices.
Свежие комментарии