Samsung SGR-A1 | |
---|---|
Type | Sentry gun |
Place of origin | South Korea |
The SGR-A1 is a type of autonomous sentry gun that was jointly developed by Samsung Techwin (now Hanwha Aerospace) and Korea University to assist South Korean troops in the Korean Demilitarized Zone. It is widely considered as the first unit of its kind to have an integrated system that includes surveillance, tracking, firing, and voice recognition. [1] [2] While units of the SGR-A1 have been reportedly deployed, their number is unknown due to the project being "highly classified". [3]
The Samsung SGR-A1 project started with an initial investment by the South Korean government in 2003 and was developed by four institutions led primarily by Hanwha Techwin and Korea University. With prototypes produced in 2006, the system was designed to replace human-oriented guarding along the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and to provide the "perfect guard operation". [1] The primary goal of the project, as quoted by Shin Hyun-don from the South Korean defense ministry "is to transform the current guard and observation mission on fronts conducted by soldiers into a robot system". [4] The entirety of the 250 kilometres (160 mi) DMZ is heavily patrolled and is touted as the most militarized border in the world, despite its name. [1] This, combined with the fact that South Korea's military personnel is nearly half the size of North Korea's, may have influenced the South Korean government's decision to invest more in autonomous robot guards.
Many of the Samsung SGR-A1's features resemble the standard sentry gun and similar automated stationary weapons like the Super aEgis II and the Israeli Sentry Tech systems. The system, costing approximately $200,000 (227 million won), includes an uncooled infrared thermographic camera for detection, a weapons interface that allows for mounted weapons, and a combination of an IR illuminator and a laser rangefinder to track and follow targets. It also includes a digital video recorder which captures footage for up to 60 days and three other cameras used separately for surveillance, tracking and zoom. [2]
The Samsung SGR-A1 presumes any person entering the DMZ is an enemy and, upon detection, will attempt to identify the target through voice recognition. If a proper access code is not provided within a short amount of time, the system can choose between sounding an alarm, firing rubber bullets or engaging the target with other weapons. The system can also be overridden by an operator, who can also communicate via built-in microphone and audio system.
The development of the Samsung SGR-A1 (and LAWS in general) has sparked considerable controversy regarding their effect on aggression between states, the issue on ethics of autonomous killing, and innocent killings through collateral damage.
A human-in-the-loop (HITL) system, if applied to the Samsung SGR-A1, would mean the weapon must wait for commands from a human operator before acting upon its targets. This contrasts with a human over the loop (HOTL) system, which would allow the Samsung SGR-A1 to autonomously engage targets while allowing for human intervention to stop it. Opposition groups against the use of the Samsung SGR-A1 and laws including the Committee on International Security and Arms Control and Human Rights Watch believe the Samsung SGR-A1 has HOTL capabilities, and would ultimately increase civilian casualties and lower the threshold for going to war.
Many of these opposing arguments, however, are based on the idea that the Samsung SGR-A1 is a truly autonomous, HOTL system, which has been a heavily disputed topic. A 2008 study, done by California Polytechnic State University's Naval Department, suggested that the Samsung SGR-A1 is a fully autonomous system and reports by major news outlets including The Atlantic , BBC, and NBC also confirm their conclusion. A quote from the report reads, "The firing of the gun can be done manually by a soldier or by the robot in fully-automatic (autonomous) mode." Despite published studies confirming the weapon's autonomy, Samsung Techwin has openly denied that the Samsung SGR-A1 has autonomous functionality. In a 2010 response to a Popular Science article regarding the autonomy of the Samsung SGR-A1, Samsung Techwin Spokesperson, Huh Kwang-hak stated "the robots, while having the capability of automatic surveillance, cannot automatically fire at detected foreign objects or figures." [8] [9] [10] [11]
An autonomous robot is a robot that acts without recourse to human control. The first autonomous robots environment were known as Elmer and Elsie, which were constructed in the late 1940s by W. Grey Walter. They were the first robots in history that were programmed to "think" the way biological brains do and meant to have free will. Elmer and Elsie were often labeled as tortoises because of how they were shaped and the manner in which they moved. They were capable of phototaxis which is the movement that occurs in response to light stimulus.
Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation.
Military robots are autonomous robots or remote-controlled mobile robots designed for military applications, from transport to search & rescue and attack.
A thermographic camera is a device that creates an image using infrared (IR) radiation, similar to a normal camera that forms an image using visible light. Instead of the 400–700 nanometre (nm) range of the visible light camera, infrared cameras are sensitive to wavelengths from about 1,000 nm to about 14,000 nm (14 μm). The practice of capturing and analyzing the data they provide is called thermography.
Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal video and/or thermal imaging, is a process where a thermal camera captures and creates an image of an object by using infrared radiation emitted from the object in a process, which are examples of infrared imaging science. Thermographic cameras usually detect radiation in the long-infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum and produce images of that radiation, called thermograms. Since infrared radiation is emitted by all objects with a temperature above absolute zero according to the black body radiation law, thermography makes it possible to see one's environment with or without visible illumination. The amount of radiation emitted by an object increases with temperature; therefore, thermography allows one to see variations in temperature. When viewed through a thermal imaging camera, warm objects stand out well against cooler backgrounds; humans and other warm-blooded animals become easily visible against the environment, day or night. As a result, thermography is particularly useful to the military and other users of surveillance cameras.
LANTIRN is a combined navigation and targeting pod system for use on the United States Air Force fighter aircraft—the F-15E Strike Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon manufactured by Martin Marietta. LANTIRN significantly increases the combat effectiveness of these aircraft, allowing them to fly at low altitudes, at night and under-the-weather to attack ground targets with a variety of precision-guided weapons.
An unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is a vehicle that operates while in contact with the ground and without an onboard human presence. UGVs can be used for many applications where it may be inconvenient, dangerous, or impossible to have a human operator present. Generally, the vehicle will have a set of sensors to observe the environment, and will either autonomously make decisions about its behavior or pass the information to a human operator at a different location who will control the vehicle through teleoperation.
Hanwha Vision, founded as Samsung Techwin, is a video surveillance company. It is a subsidiary of Hanwha Group. The company employs 1,822 people and is headquartered in South Korea. Its total sales in 2020 were 529.8 billion South Korean won.
The Foster-Miller TALON remotely operated vehicle is a small, tracked military robot designed for missions ranging from reconnaissance to combat. It is made by the American robotics company QinetiQ-NA, a subsidiary of QinetiQ.
A sentry gun is a weapon that is automatically aimed and fired at targets that are detected by sensors. The earliest functioning military sentry guns were the close-in weapon systems point-defense weapons, such as the Phalanx CIWS, used for detecting and destroying short range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft, first used exclusively on naval assets, and now also as land-based defenses.
The K9 Thunder is a South Korean 155 mm self-propelled howitzer designed and developed by the Agency for Defense Development and civil contractors including Dongmyeong Heavy Industries, Kia Heavy Industry, Poongsan Corporation, and Samsung Aerospace Industries for the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, and is now manufactured by Hanwha Defense. K9 howitzers operate in groups with the K10 automatic ammunition resupply vehicle variant.
The South Korean K30 Biho twin 30 mm self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon was developed to meet the operational requirements of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces for a highly mobile short range air defense system suited to the operational and terrain conditions of the Korean peninsula. It combines an electro-optically guided 30 mm gun system with a surveillance radar system on a K200 chassis. It supplements the K263A1 Chungung, a self-propelled 20 mm Vulcan system.
Infrared vision is the capability of biological or artificial systems to detect infrared radiation. The terms thermal vision and thermal imaging, are also commonly used in this context since infrared emissions from a body are directly related to their temperature: hotter objects emit more energy in the infrared spectrum than colder ones.
The Republic of Korea Military Police, are the uniformed law enforcement agencies of each respective branch of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. Once operated under a unified Military Police Command between 1953 and 1960, the ROK's MP units are now commanded by the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force HQs separately. ROK Army MPs also function as a border guards at the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
Lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs) are a type of autonomous military system that can independently search for and engage targets based on programmed constraints and descriptions. LAWs are also known as lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), autonomous weapon systems (AWS), robotic weapons or killer robots. LAWs may operate in the air, on land, on water, underwater, or in space. The autonomy of current systems as of 2018 was restricted in the sense that a human gives the final command to attack—though there are exceptions with certain "defensive" systems.
Science and technology in South Korea has advanced throughout the decades. The advancement of science and technology has become an integral part of economic planning in South Korea. Fast-growing industries have created a massive demand for new and more advanced technologies. Additionally, Korean scientists propose that the advancement of science and technology in partnership with North Korea could help facilitate the peaceful reunification of North Korea and South Korea.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) was founded on January 1, 2006 as part of a comprehensive reform of the defense acquisition project, including the introduction and development of weapons, and is a central administrative agency of the South Korean Ministry of National Defense.
The K808/806 White Tiger wheeled armored personnel carrier is family of 8x8 and 6x6 armored vehicles. Developed by Hyundai Rotem as a private venture in 2012, the Korean Army declared a plan to acquire 600 6×6 and 8×8 wheeled APCs in order to help build rapid response forces molded after U.S. Stryker combat brigades, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). Hyundai Rotem, a, made the K808/806 in competition with the Doosan Black Fox and Samsung Techwin MPV, and eventually won the competition.
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Hanwha Aerospace Co., Ltd., formerly Hanwha Techwin Co Ltd is a subsidiary of Hanwha Group, is an aerospace industrial company headquartered in Changwon, South Korea. It was established in 1977 as Samsung Precision. The company is Korea's only gas turbine engine manufacturer, and specializes in the development, production and maintenance of aircraft engines. In 1979, it started the aircraft engine business with gas turbine engine depot maintenance business, providing various gas turbine solutions to Korea and all over the world and by 2016 the company had produced more than 8,000 pieces of equipment.