Call for proposals Flash Drone: "Protection of sensitive sites from aerial drones"

The use of aerial drones for various applications (commercial, agricultural, industrial and for leisure) is expanding strongly. France is among the leading countries in the field of drones, due to a particularly competitive range of products and related services. As with all new technologies, the use of drones brings many advantages, but also creates new risks. These have to be anticipated, especially with regard to drones flying over sensitive areas, through appropriate operational, legal and technical measures. This has appeared as a major priority for the "Comité de la Filière industrielle de sécurité" (CoFIS). This committee associates the state, public operators and industry.

In order to anticipate these risks, notably for different scenarios and in different contexts, it is essential to appraise the technical means, which could be available in a mid-term, for the detection, the geolocalisation, the identification and neutralisation of small aerial drones.

The French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la recherche (ANR) has been mandated by the Secrétariat Général de la Défense et de la Sécurité Nationale (SGDSN), in the context of its actions in support of the security industries, to launch a call for R&D proposals on the protection of sensitive zones to drone over fly.

The aim of this call is to finance projects which will rapidly (18 months maximum) lead to a demonstrator in an operational environment. This should allow technical solutions to be implemented on real sensitive sites. The operational scenarios and the operating conditions should illustrate in a realistic manner, including future trends, the risks associated with the over fly of drones of less than 150 kg mass.

This call is aimed at "experimental development" projects and have to involve at least one participant from a research establishment or laboratory or a company.