The advanced software system made up of multiple networks has been demonstrated by Babcock at the UK Ministry of Defence’s BattleLab site in Dorset.
The project was created in collaboration with Arqit, a quantum-safe encryption specialist, and supported by Innovate UK.
According to Babcock, SwarmCore can be used to control single or entire fleets of vehicles such as drones. Furthermore, it can be operated fully autonomously or by remote human control at a safe distance from the battlefield.
The defence giant added that a key benefit of SwarmCore and its integration with Arqit’s Symmetric Key Agreement Platform is its ability to receive and transmit data in a safe and secure way in a decentralised manner.
Consequently, if a single vehicle as part of a fleet was hacked or attacked then the rest of the fleet could continue its mission with no single asset ever being a point of failure.
With the integration of Arqit’s encryption technology, information carried on encrypted keys to and from assets will benefit from robust protection against cyber-attacks.
Babcock chief engineering and technology officer, Brad Yelland, said combining autonomous systems with advanced software that can deal with potential cyber threats could be a gamechanger in the modern defence landscape.
“Disruptive technologies such as AI, machine learning and quantum - are playing an increasingly important role in the changing defence landscape and the rise in cyber threats,” he said in a statement. “For our defence customers, developing technologies like this gives them more control in today’s complex defence environment, increased performance and security along with the ability for their teams to perform tasks remotely with solutions that are quicker and more cost effective to implement.”
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