IoT for Defense and National Security

2Sensorized Warfighter Weapon Platforms: IoT Making the Fog of War Obsolete

Kyle Broadway

Chief Technology Officer, Armaments Research Company, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA

Abstract

There is no platform or tool closer to ground‐truth engagement data than the warfighter's weapon. Weapons‐based IoT sensors provide a path to harness individual engagement data into actionable intelligence insights across echelons. These IoT platforms work to provide information that will close the data gap between the individual warfighter and their command – relegating the fog of war concept to obsolescence. Weapons‐based IoT sensors are uniquely positioned to fill this knowledge gap because their cost effectiveness enables deployment to every warfighter on the battlefield, turning each weapon into a new information node.

Every warfighter information node can provide engagement data that includes weapon metrics such as discharge detection alerts, shot counting and ammunition remaining, weapon rates of fire, weapon orientation and directionality, and overall weapon readiness. This information represents a critical window into multiple use cases that include weapons predictive maintenance, real time situational awareness across echelons, ammunition and weapon supply chain optimization, warfighter and squad performance metrics, and ground truth historical reporting.

Weapon based IoT sensors also carry unique challenges. Many deployed warfighters ...