Indra presents a new 360 vision system equipped with artificial intelligence to reinforce the protection and efficiency of armored vehicles on their missions

Indra has developed a 360 vision system based on artificial intelligence that endows armored vehicles with situational awareness and increases their effectiveness when it comes to fulfilling their mission.

The company presented the system to the Ministry of Defence, an evolution of the solution it began to develop during the initial phase of the 8x8 Dragon program, during a demonstration held at Wheeled Vehicle Maintenance Park and Center No. 2 in Córdoba before the heads of the Army General Staff (EME), the General Directorate of Armament and Material (DGAM) and the Army’s Logistic Support Command (MALE). 

The system incorporates different artificial intelligence algorithms that analyze the images collected by the visible, night-vision and infrared cameras placed on different parts of the vehicle. It increases the range of potential identification of people and platforms thanks to AI, determines whether they are friends or foes and evaluates the degree of threat and the possibility of ambushes, proposing potential protective measures and lines of action to fulfill the mission.

The crew members monitor all the information and jointly contribute to its analysis in order to streamline the perception and understanding of what is going on at any given time, further increasing the efficiency of the system. 

According to Miguel Rodríguez Mora, Indra’s sales director, “this is a technology that the most advanced armies in the world, including those of the US, the United Kingdom and Germany, are opting for,” while he stressed that “the use of AI will be particularly important during operations in complex environments such as urban and low-visibility areas, where it’s more difficult to distinguish attackers and the reaction times are shorter.”

Rodríguez Mora added that what sets Indra’s 360 vision system apart is that “it goes beyond mere perception of the environment and has the ability to understand data, recognize patterns and interpret and evaluate what’s happening and how it’s affecting the plans that have been put in place.” In this regard, he underlined, it can “automate tasks and make decisions much more seamlessly and clearly in situations of maximum stress, reducing the number of errors and increasing safety.”

The 360 vision system has been designed to be integrated into the 8x8 Dragon’s Mission System, which has also been developed by Indra to act as the armored vehicle’s brain, controlling all the vehicle’s sensors and subsystems. In turn, this kind of technology helps enrich the tactical vision managed by higher level tools such as the Battlefield Management System (BMS) that is currently integrated into the Army’s armored and combat vehicles. This is also based on Indra’s technology and serves to facilitate coordination and exchanges of information between the units deployed during an operation.

 About Indra

Indra (www.indracompany.com) is one of the main global defence, aerospace and technology companies and a leader of the digital transformation and information technologies in Spain and Latin America through its Minsait subsidiary. Its business model is based on a comprehensive range of proprietary products with a significant innovative component, making it the technological partner for the digitization and key operations of its customers around the world. Sustainability forms part of its strategy and culture in order to overcome current-day and future social and environmental challenges. In the 2023 financial year, Indra achieved revenue totaling €4.343 billion, with more than 57,000 employees, a local presence in 46 countries and business operations in over 140 countries.