Development Of Metrics And Requirements To Enable Down-selection And Evaluation Of Commercial Counter-unmanned Aircraft Systems Products

Recent security events involving unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) have left many Nuclear Sites wondering if they should implement counter-UAS technologies. Many sites are therefore beginning to assess the security risks and potential impact of UAS threats on security, operations, to determine whether implementing Counter-UAS technology or products is warranted. If the assessments indicate unacceptable levels of risk, operators have a challenging task of determining what kind of CUAS capabilities to select and implement, and how to conduct testing to evaluate product specifications and claims made by manufacturers. For operators or regulators seeking to incorporate counter-UAS capabilities into their security systems, a critical next step is to generate requirements based on risk, policy, threat and performance trade-offs. This activity is independent of and must be completed prior to searching for or deploying a CUAS technology. Doing so enables more effective technical exchanges, requests for information, development of test plans and procedures, and provides a solid basis for justifying procurements actions. This is best done through multiple discussions involving all security stakeholders, on topics such as, what is the anticipated budget for acquisition and deployment, and annual training, operation, maintenance and sustainment, performance testing, and updates, what UAS characteristics (type, navigation methods, size, speed, altitude, payloads, behaviors, etc.) were used to determine unacceptable levels of security risk from UAS threats, what forms of sensing and tracking are preferred given local environment conditions, what kinds of mitigations are acceptable, legal, and effective given local conditions, etc. The results of these discussions will enable development of requirements and metrics that can be used to evaluate the performance of Counter-UAS regardless of the type of technology being considered. This presentation will suggest and discuss multiple performance metrics that can be applied to CUAS at various sites. The metrics presented are based on an established methodology that has been applied to detection and neutralization of threats to high security applications for over 40 years. This presentation will also outline the International Nuclear Security (INS) CUAS program structure and planned country engagements.