BorderForce – A Flexible System Extending Automated Border Surveillance funded by EU Horizon Programme
The EU has experienced a surge in fixed border surveillance solutions, including physical barriers, covering 13% of external land borders. The BorderForce project, funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme for Research and Innovation and officially titled “Flexible System Extending Automated Border Surveillance by Increased Situational Awareness Adaptable to Uncertain Times with Unforeseen Events” responds to evolving threats by enhancing real-time surveillance capabilities.
It introduces a dynamic system, featuring self-sufficient, transportable Command and Control (C2) Stations with configurable and extendable capabilities. These stations incorporate versatile surveillance towers with anti-drone features, integrating data from autonomous monitoring sensors and UAV systems. Dedicated satellite resources, including CubeSat, strategically positioned at high-risk spots, ensure frequent revisits to critical areas. To enable early threat assessment, BorderForce leverages Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), processing online data for border security threats.
BorderForce At-a-glance
The project emphasizes ethical, legal, and social aspects, safeguarding fundamental rights in border surveillance capability development. BorderForce collaborates with the EU and candidate countries border authorities, customs, and Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) entities. It defines scenarios, gathers architecture feedback, and validates end-user feedback. The project emphasizes data exchange, novel user interfaces (e.g., XR), and immersive training for collaborative threat assessment, promoting safety and security while upholding fundamental rights. This solution enhances resource sustainability by improving the coordination and deployment of reusable security measures. The BorderForce solution will be validated in two field trials and ensures seamless operations in monitoring the flow of goods, people and information.
By addressing challenges like migration, smuggling, and geopolitical tensions, BorderForce contributes to regional stability, particularly in times of crisis. Overall, it combines technological innovation and international collaboration to bolster border security, prioritizing fundamental rights and ethical considerations.
To better serve BorderForce vision and amplify chances of achieving desired results, a consortium of 16 partners from 13 European countries – Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Moldavia, Romania, Slovakia and Spain – was created while Project coordinator is the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT). The project commenced on November 1, 2024, and has a duration of 30 months.
BorderForce key challenges
Project’s key challenges include the dynamic levels and types of risks across multiple border sections that need to be monitored 24/7, each with differing environmental, vegetational, population, and climatic/ weather conditions. The lack of situational awareness arises from the absence of integration between various existing capabilities and assets, preventing a unified system. To address this, a robust and flexible system is required, which should be scalable and easy to deploy while enabling collaborative situational awareness. This system would support relevant authorities by providing the ability to rapidly deploy intervention troops and/or Border Police Teams to risk-assessed areas.
BorderForce capabilities
Project’s capabilities include a mobile and deployable C2 station integrating AI-based detection for autonomous optical edge sensing and (anti-) UAV functionalities. The target objects for threat assessment include persons, vehicles, animals, vessels, and UAVs. The system also utilizes Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, Cubesats with high revisit times, and Copernicus satellites, along with Copernicus Contributing Missions (CCM) to gather crucial data.
Additionally, the system employs drone swarm sensing with sophisticated flight plan updates while an OpenSource Intelligence (OSINT) platform is used to derive threat indicators relevant to border regions. The system also features an autonomous UAV-aided mesh wireless communication network, managed through RPAS and VTX Mesh, enabling seamless data exchange in challenging environments.
Data fusion is carried out on features extracted from sensor data and the OSINT sub-system. This process produces geo-referenced risk indicators for the end-users, preserving geolocation information, which is crucial for informed decision-making.
BorderForce approach
The approach which is presented in the image below focuses on enhancing, developing, and integrating technologies and processes for land border surveillance across small (200m) and larger areas (up to 20km), addressing diverse environmental conditions and weather scenarios. The system combines various sensors and detection technologies, intelligently fusing them into georeferenced risk indicators, which are visualized through a deployable C2 system, tailored for SUVs. A simple, web-based decision-making user interface is designed for various end-users, supplemented by an innovative XR-based approach to enhance operations and system setup.
The approach follows a two-phase strategy, progressing from TRL5 in an industrial environment, through operational testing and updates in a “friendly” practitioner environment, ultimately reaching TRL7 in the end-user environment. The solution will be tested in two field trials: one in Bulgaria (CDBP infrastructure) and another in Lithuania (SBGS and LRM infrastructure), with pilot use cases focused on irregular migration and smuggling in both small and large areas.
Finally, the approach includes ground truth data production for training AI models and annotation, along with benchmarking the system based on an agreed assessment methodology, involving multiple authorities to ensure internal and external security. An ethics assessment will be conducted throughout the project, ensuring compliance with the AI Act.
