Projects

ODYSSEUS aims to increase the knowledge on explosive precursors and homemade explosives (HMEs), including precursors not previously studied, and develop effective and efficient prognostic, detection, and forensic tools to improve the capabilities of LEAs towards the prevention, countering, and investigation of terrorist incidents involving HMEs. ODYSSEUS will build upon relevant previous projects mainly HOMER, through the involvement ofHOMER’s core partners in this consortium, and will thus continue the work already done in HOMER on some precursors and further extend it to not previously studied precursors.

To discover potentially hitherto unknown information, online HMEs recipes will be collected and their content will be analysed so as to extract knowledge about (possibly unknown) precursors and HMEs. Selected precursors will be then characterisedand analysed for determining their explosive properties, feasibility, and potential for becoming a threat.This knowledge will be leveraged for developing tools for(i) chemical supply chain monitoring for irregularity detection to enable prediction and localisation of potential threats; (ii) advanced sensors for detecting in (near) real-time explosive precursors through air emissions and sewerage networks; (iii) robotised tools for improved mobile detection and in-situ forensic support; and (iv) automated threat detection, localisation, and assessment; these tools will be integrated into a configurable platform that will assist LEAs’ operations in diverse scenarios.

ODYSSEUS will be validated in lab and field tests and demonstrations in three operational use cases. Extensive training of LEAs' personnel, hands-on experience, joint exercises, and training material will boost the uptake of ODYSSEUS tools and technologies. With a Consortium of 4 LEAs, 9 Research/Academic partners, and 5 industry partners, ODYSSEUS delivers a strong representation of the challenges, requirements and tools to meet its objectives.

Website: https://odysseus-h2020.eu/

A methodology for tracking and analysing the needs for standardization and certification harmonization thorough the project life cycle will be defined and enforced, which will allow the early identification of issues related to the conceptualization, design, implementation, integration and deployment of tools for support the EU disaster resiliency; which will be facilitated by a complete consultation strategy to the different stakeholders that are expected to act at each capability development phase, ranging from providers to end users. On these grounds H2020-VALKYRIES will develop, integrate and demonstrate capabilities for enabling immediate and coordinated emergency response including search and rescue, security and health, in scenarios of natural/provoked catastrophes with multiple victims, with special application in cases in which several regions or countries are affected and hence greater interoperability being required. H2020-VALKYRIES will propose both design and development of a modular, interoperable, scalable and secure platform, which will allow the integration between legacy solutions and new technologies. The platform will be able to deploy services and dynamically adapt its behaviour, as the emergency requires it. A series of use cases and demonstrators will be developed placing an emphasis on cross-frontier and cross-sectorial BLOS (Beyond Line of Sight) scenarios, where the usual communications infrastructure could have been damaged, and emergency response teams are deployed without an accurate view of the operation environment.

Website: https://www.valkyries-h2020.eu/index.html

ISOLA project combines state-of-the-art technologies blended with novel solutions to enhance the Situational Awareness and support the assigned Ship Security Officer & Crew to the execution of their duties especially to the Ship Security Plan. The suggested system is contextually aligned and harmonised with the existing regulations. Constraints to integration will also be looked at with attention given to key architecture framework criteria: standardisation, interoperability, openness, flexibility, adaptability, ability to evolve, scalability, modularity, simplicity, usability, robustness, information management, decision support and mission effectiveness, and legacy integration. ISOLA develops, integrates, tests, deploys, demonstrates and validates a systematic and fully automated security approach by incorporating innovative technologies for sensing, monitoring, data fusion, alarming and reporting real-time during illegal incidents. This will ensure high level of security among all the passengers of the ship and augmentation of the Ship Security Plan. The main objectives of ISOLA are: (i) to create strategies and methods in order to a ship to easily integrated solutions regarding passengers and crew safety in the existing ship systems; (ii) to propose innovative sensor and visual technologies to support security safety; (iii) to create a complex collaborative system for monitoring and detecting security incidents and events; (iv) to create early warning methods for the ship security crew to prevent security issues; (v) to collect incident evidences by exploiting the Augmented Reality; (vi) to allow easy engagement of different authorities in a ship related crisis; (vii) to model, classify and easily report a security event.

Website: https://isola-project.eu/

Exposure of citizens to potential disasters has led to vulnerable societies that require risk reduction measures. Drinking water is one main source of risk when its safety and security is not ensured. aqua3S combines novel technologies in water safety and security, aiming to standardise existing sensor technologies complemented by state-of-the-art detection mechanisms. On the one hand sensor networks are deployed in water supply networks and sources, supported by complex sensors for enhanced detection; on the other hand sensor measurements are supported by videos from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), satellite images and social media observations from the citizens that report low-quality water in their area (e.g. by colorisation), creating also social awareness and an interactive knowledge transfer. Semantic representation and data fusion provides intelligent DSS alerts and messages to the public through first responders’ mediums. The proposed technical solution is designed to offer a very effective detection system, taking into account the cost of the aqua3S platform and targets at very high return over investment ratio. A strategy for the insertion of aqua3S solution into the market is designed towards the standardisation of the proposed technologies and the aqua3S secure platform.

Website: https://aqua3s.eu/

Security risks and threats in the maritime domain are becoming increasingly more complex day by day. Within the EU there have been significant increases in irregular migration flows and human trafficking and smuggling but also of other illegal activities, such as drugs and arms trafficking and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and –according to the FRONTEX “Risk Analysis for 2021” report- the challenge becomes even bigger. The European Union Maritime Security Strategy, and other EU initiatives such as EUROSUR and CISE, highlight that closer collaboration between authorities at national, regional and EU levels can constitute the key action to increase both situational awareness and operational efficiency. In particular, there is increased interest in assessing the viability of multi-authority cooperation in (especially high altitude) sensing and capability advancement for enhanced wide area surveillance of land, air and sea borders. EURMARS’s ground-breaking vision is to expand the common risk assessment practices currently deployed by authorities to enable the development, deployment and evaluation of a secure multitasking surveillance platform that improves sensing capabilities for a wide range of security risks and threats in wider border areas by clustering high altitude platforms technology, satellite imagery, UxVs and ground-based sensors into a novel joint surveillance capability. As part of the EURMARS framework, the various existing and future systems for maritime surveillance will be integrated, to allow for the collaborative operation and the provision of the sensing results to related authorities. The open architecture will build on the lessons learnt of previous initiatives, assimilate the knowledge of the stakeholders and their practice on CISE and other relevant systems, exploit the latest AI, risk assessment and visualization innovations, and undergo extensive technical and user acceptance tests and ethical and legal impact assessments.

Website: https://eurmars-project.eu/