NPS Develops AI Solution to Automate Drone Defense with High Energy Lasers

NPS Develops AI Solution to Automate Drone Defense with High Energy Lasers

MONTEREY, Calif.– Lasers enable the U.S. Navy to fight at the speed of light. Armed with artificial intelligence (AI), ship defensive laser systems can make rapid, accurate targeting assessments necessary for today’s complex and fast-paced operating environment where drones have become an increasing threat.

Inside a cleanroom laboratory, NPS researchers Leonardo Herrera, Jae Jun Kim, and Brij Agrawal (left to right) stand to the side of the invisible light pathway between the High Energy Laser Beam Control Research Testbed (HBCRT), rear view in foreground, and the range-in-a-box (RIAB), in background. The HBCRT replicates a laser weapon system (LWS) found aboard a ship, and the RIAB uses an optical bench and a miniature model to simulate a full-size drone in flight about 5 kilometers away. The researchers collected thousands of target images for AI training and development of an AI model that automates LWS target classification, pose estimation, aimpoint selection and aimpoint maintenance. (U.S. Navy photo by Javier Chagoya)

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