European Defence Fund: Autonomous Triage and Evacuation

The EDF funds projects which are consistent with the defence capability priorities commonly agreed by EU Member States within the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), through:

• Collaborative research that could significantly boost the performance of future capabilities, aiming to maximise innovation and introduce new defence products and technologies, including disruptive technologies for defence, and aiming to make the most efficient use of defence research spending in the EU.
• Collaborative development of defence products and technologies, thus contributing to the greater efficiency of defence spending in the EU, achieving greater economies of scale, reducing the risk of unnecessary duplication and thereby fostering the market uptake of European defence products and technologies and reducing the fragmentation of defence products and technologies, ultimately leading to an increase in the standardisation of defence systems and greater interoperability between Member States’ capabilities.

Objectives

• General objective
  • Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) between peer adversaries can result in mass casualty scenarios where the need for casualty care and evacuation dramatically outstrips available medical resources. This call topic therefore addresses the urgent need to develop and validate innovative Robotic and Autonomous System (RAS), i.e., autonomous and robotic-assisted capabilities that address the specific challenges of military battlefield triage and evacuation in mass casualty scenarios, including CBRN contamination and ongoing high intensity fighting spots with limited or no access of first responders.
• Specific objective
  • The development of unmanned military platforms for surveillance, reconnaissance and kinetic attack missions is progressing rapidly. The concept of autonomous triage in LSCO should be based on life threatening indicators as a minimum (i.e., covered in the START algorithm). However, the realisation of such capabilities requires development of dedicated solutions that provide innovative damage site inventory of casualties, extraction, and unmanned systems (various platforms) with the ability to monitor and assess the health status of injured soldiers and adapt their behaviour accordingly.

Funding Information

• Grant amount: EUR 10000000.
• Project duration: between 12 and 48 months.

Eligible Projects

• Proposals must:
  • Evaluate integration of sensors of the wounded soldier status during CASEVAC. This includes “plug-and-play” C2 to/from the chosen CASEVAC platform and integrate monitoring of patients during CASEVAC.
  • Include a comprehensive model of the physiological evaluation of the casualties, which may be fed asynchronously with information acquired from the casualties health status and from the surrounding environment. Information needed to forecast the route and adapt the autonomous system behaviour in line with the degree of injuries.
  • Evaluate integration of miniaturised sensors for CBRN detection and identification and monitoring (DIM).
  • Define the specific autonomous platforms to be used to provide RAS CASEVAC and START capabilities.
• Proposals should also:
  • Reflect on different concepts of autonomous triage from an ethical perspective, but also regarding the perspective of responsibility. The concept of autonomous triage in LSCO should be based, as a minimum, on life threatening indicators covered in the START algorithm.
  • Address explainability of the forecasting and of the assessments obtained through automated procedures.
  • Foresee detailed alternative approaches to the assessment of casualty status, especially in view of the lack of large databases on which Artificial Intelligence (AI)-systems can be trained.
  • Increase the casualty evacuation capacity and the triage process expedition at the point of injury.
  • Adapt to prevalent weather and environment conditions, threat levels, and the condition of on-board patients for autonomous casualty evacuation platforms, in addition to react to unexpected events that might happen in the local environment during navigation.
  • Define methods to achieve physical protection for patients and systems during evacuation.
  • Define methods to achieve platforms’ survivability.
  • Address platforms’ reusability (e.g., CBRN DIM and decontamination).
  • Examine the potential of fully autonomous battlefield triage, based on innovative AI-based algorithms.
  • Remain operational in all weather conditions, including sub-zero temperature and snow-covered conditions.

Eligible Activities

• Accordingly, the proposals must cover at least the following tasks as part of mandatory activities:
  • Study:
    • The feasibility of AI-based autonomous triage following the START algorithm, as a minimum.
    • RAS CASEVAC in harsh conditions and across contested environments, where GNSS signal and communication links could be denied.
    • Means to allow swift and safe casualty extraction from the ground and “hand-over” between different types of platforms and or operators.
    • Automatic or autonomous functions to optimise platform behaviour (planning and operation) based on risk assessment and available (sensor) data considering:
      • Patient condition and stabilisation efforts.
      • Time to destination related to golden hour elapsed time.
      • Patient condition deterioration related to speed dependent transport performance (e.g., risk of opening of wounds due to platform vibration, shorter route in difficult terrain vs. longer route in easy terrain).
      • Resource management at destination.
      • Threat level.
    • Definition of the system and system of systems (swarming) architecture gathering functional and non-functional requirements for the individual systems (UAVs, UGVs, USVs) and the overarching system of systems, evaluation technologies, specifying swarming behaviours, ensuring interoperability with standards, and assessing risks.
  • Design:
    • Proof-of-concept technology demonstrations and evaluations of the (separate) developed functions for health status indicators. These should be performed in representative military scenarios.
    • Autonomous triage reflecting START algorithm.
    • Monitoring during RAS CASEVAC transport, multi-modal casualty transport with physical safety measures and adaptive behaviour.
    • RAS CASEVAC.
    • Showcasing the applicability of proposed solutions in military structures and the military decision-making process, by implementing them in the EU hosted wargaming simulation/exercise (e.g., by one or more partnering or associated Ministries of Defence, HEDI).
    • Develop a proof-of-concept mission planning tool that integrates inputs from all systems to create a cohesive operational plan. Enable real-time updates to the mission plan based on incoming data and changing conditions.
• In addition, the proposals should cover the following tasks:
  • Study:
    • The feasibility of autonomous or robotic-assisted systems for initial stabilisation of casualties before extraction and transport, e.g., to control haemorrhage.
    • Integration of commercial wearables into CASEVAC platform related to health monitoring of patients (health ring, electronic ID-tags, RFID-tags, smart-watches, smart-textile, etc).
  • Design:
    • RAS medication during transport based on the casualty monitoring data, according to the improved first aid spectrum, e.g., painkillers, CBRN medical countermeasures.
    • Potential for a more autonomous battlefield triage, using innovative AI-based algorithms, should be examined.
    • The proposals should substantiate synergies and complementarity with foreseen, ongoing or completed activities in the field of medical logistics, notably through EU funded actions related to mass casualties scenarios.

Eligibility Requirements

• In order to be eligible, all applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must cumulatively:
  • Be legal entities (public or private bodies)
  • Be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
    • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
    • Non-EU countries :
      • Listed EEA countries (‘EDF associated countries’; list of participating countries)
  • Have their executive management structure established in eligible countries
  • Not be subject to control by a non-associated third country or non-associated third-country entity (unless they can provide guarantees – approved by the Member State or EDF associated country where they are established)

For more information, visit European Commission.