{"id":4726,"date":"2023-09-12T17:32:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T16:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/?page_id=4726"},"modified":"2026-01-06T09:28:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T08:28:32","slug":"arc","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/index.php\/projects\/arc\/","title":{"rendered":"AI &#8211; Resistant Camouflage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><section class=\"kc-elm kc-css-75490 kc_row\"><div class=\"kc-row-container  kc-container\"><div class=\"kc-wrap-columns\"><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-739201 kc_col-sm-12 kc_column kc_col-sm-12\"><div class=\"kc-col-container\"><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-213951\" style=\"height: 20px; clear: both; width:100%;\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><section class=\"kc-elm kc-css-843679 kc_row\"><div class=\"kc-row-container  kc-container\"><div class=\"kc-wrap-columns\"><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-442247 kc_col-sm-3 kc_column kc_col-sm-3\"><div class=\"kc-col-container\"><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-247168 kc-raw-code\">  <script>\n    window.addEventListener(\"load\", () => {\n      mastodonFeedLoad(\n        \"https:\/\/social.rma.ac.be\/api\/v1\/timelines\/tag\/DFR_ARC\",\n        \"include-mastodon-feed-69e08dcf9ab81\",\n        {\n          linkTarget: \"_self\",\n          showPreviewCards: true,\n          excludeConversationStarters: false,\n          excludeTags: \"\",\n          content: {\n            hideStatusMeta: false,\n            hideDateTime: false          },\n          images: {\n            preserveImageAspectRatio: false,\n            size: \"preview\",\n            link: \"status\",\n          },\n          text: {\n            boosted: \"boosted \ud83d\ude80\",\n            noStatuses: \"No statuses available\",\n            viewOnInstance: \"view on instance\",\n            showContent: \"Show content\",\n            permalinkPre: \"on\",\n            permalinkPost: \"\",\n            edited: \"(edited)\",\n          },\n          localization: {\n            date: {\n              locale: \"en-US\",\n              options: {},\n            }\n          }\n        }\n      );\n    });\n  <\/script>\n  <div class=\"include-mastodon-feed-wrapper\"><ol class=\"include-mastodon-feed\" id=\"include-mastodon-feed-69e08dcf9ab81\"><li>Loading Mastodon feed...<\/li><\/ol><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-592110 kc_col-sm-6 kc_column kc_col-sm-6\"><div class=\"kc-col-container\"><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-461477 kc_text_block\"><\/p>\n<p>The importance of automated detection, tracking, classification and identification (DTCI) of military assets is growing\u00a0<span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">rapidly. This evolution has a direct influence on military operations relying on conventional camouflage techniques, as the\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">probability of camouflaged object detection increases with improved DTCI solutions. Therefore, the need for innovative\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">camouflage solutions is growing. This is sharply underlined by the figure on the left, taken on April 1st 2022, when Belgian\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">Defence proudly presented its new future camouflage clothing. The bounding boxes on the figure present the result of\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">the famous YOLO5 detector on this image and clearly show that \u2013 in the \u2018eyes\u2019 of the AI \u2013 the military soldiers are as\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">clearly visible (similar confidence level) as the MoD, meaning that the obfuscation effect of the military clothing is totally\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">negligible for the AI.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>ARC will remedy this situation by proposing new camouflage designs that will better\u00a0<span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">protect soldiers and equipment against detection by enemy AI tools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In a first phase of the study, the researcher will focus\u00a0<span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">on visual sensing and investigate the static use case,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">developing techniques for the obfuscation of non-<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">moving targets. A state-of-the-art study of DTCI AI\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">techniques will be performed to highlight the main\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">techniques that are in use (currently and expected in\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">the near future) on the battlefield. For each of these\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">techniques, the network architecture will be\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">analyzed to find weaknesses in the DTCI accuracy\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">that could be exploited. The main focus will be on\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">concealed object detection AI techniques, as\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">camouflaged object tracking, classification and\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">identification rely on a detection phase. Based on\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">this, physical obfuscation mechanisms (e.g. prints)\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">will be proposed and field-tested under varying\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">illumination conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In a second phase, the study will investigate the\u00a0<span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">dynamic use case, as multiple threat detection tools\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">make use of the analysis of motion patterns for discerning between different types of objects (a typical example are DTCI\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">AI solutions that detect the human gait or that target drones, while discerning birds). Similar to the first use case,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">weaknesses in the DTCI network architecture will be sought in order to propose novel camouflage for mobile ground,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">aerial or maritime systems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In a third phase, the research will be extended to the non-visual domain. It is obviously impossible to incorporate an in-<span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">depth investigation over all possible sensing methodologies. Therefore, we will focus in the first place on thermal imaging\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">as an extra sensor and assess in close collaboration with the military end users whether it is useful to integrate even more\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">perception tools.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-223502 kc_col-sm-3 kc_column kc_col-sm-3\"><div class=\"kc-col-container\"><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-226041 kc-icon-wrapper\">\n\t\t<i class=\"fa-euro-sign\"><\/i>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-17615 kc_text_block\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rma.ac.be\">Royal Military Academy<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#038;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.irsd.be\/website\/\">Royal Higher Institute for Defence<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Defence &#8211; Funded Research (DFR) Fund<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">2023 &#8211; 2027<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">0.4 M\u20ac<\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-230386 kc_shortcode kc_single_image\">\n\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/RMA.png\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" \/>    <\/div>\n<div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-515492\" style=\"height: 20px; clear: both; width:100%;\"><\/div><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-319502 kc-icon-wrapper\">\n\t\t<i class=\"ion-android-people\"><\/i>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-65689 kc_text_block\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/index.php\/people\/kasper-cools\/\">Kasper Cools<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-501561\" style=\"height: 20px; clear: both; width:100%;\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><section class=\"kc-elm kc-css-677481 kc_row\"><div class=\"kc-row-container  kc-container\"><div class=\"kc-wrap-columns\"><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-487209 kc_col-sm-12 kc_column kc_col-sm-12\"><div class=\"kc-col-container\"><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-172370\" style=\"height: 20px; clear: both; width:100%;\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><section class=\"kc-elm kc-css-858045 kc_row\"><div class=\"kc-row-container  kc-container\"><div class=\"kc-wrap-columns\"><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-702438 kc_col-sm-12 kc_column kc_col-sm-12\"><div class=\"kc-col-container\">\n<div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-37714 kc-title-wrap \">\n\n\t<h4 class=\"kc_title\">Project Publications<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-974289 kc_text_block\"><\/p>\n<p><h3 class=\"papercite\">2025<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"papercite_bibliography\">\n<li>    K. Cools, C. Maathuis, A. M. van Oers, C. S. H. &#8220;u, N. Deligiannis, M. Vandewal, and G. D. Cubber, &#8220;Vision transformers: the threat of realistic adversarial patches,\" in <span style=\"font-style: italic\">Artificial Intelligence for Security and Defence Applications III<\/span>,  2025, p. 136790P.    <br \/>   <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" id=\"papercite_0\" class=\"papercite_toggle\">[BibTeX]<\/a>         <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1117\/12.3070069\" title='Download PDF' class='papercite_pdf'>[Download PDF]<\/a>         <a href='http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1117\/12.3070069' class='papercite_doi' title='View on publisher site'>[DOI]<\/a>\n<div class=\"papercite_bibtex\" id=\"papercite_0_block\">\n<pre><code class=\"tex bibtex\">@inproceedings{10.1117\/12.3070069,\nauthor = {Kasper Cools and Clara Maathuis and Alexander M. van Oers and Claudia S. H{\"u}bner and Nikos Deligiannis and Marijke Vandewal and Geert De Cubber},\ntitle = {{Vision transformers: the threat of realistic adversarial patches}},\nvolume = {13679},\nbooktitle = {Artificial Intelligence for Security and Defence Applications III},\neditor = {Hugo J. Kuijf and Radhakrishna Prabhu and Yitzhak Yitzhaky},\norganization = {International Society for Optics and Photonics},\npublisher = {SPIE},\npages = {136790P},\nkeywords = {Adversarial Patches, Vision Transformers, Evasion Attacks, Attack Transferability},\nyear = {2025},\ndoi = {10.1117\/12.3070069},\nURL = {https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1117\/12.3070069},\nunit= {meca-ras},\nproject= {ARC}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>    K. Cools, C. Maathuis, G. De Cubber, M. Vandewal, and N. Deligiannis, &#8220;Evaluation Techniques for Modern Military Camouflage,\" in <span style=\"font-style: italic\">Evaluation Techniques for Modern Military Camouflage<\/span>,  2025.    <br \/>   <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" id=\"papercite_1\" class=\"papercite_toggle\">[BibTeX]<\/a>         <a href=\"https:\/\/icmt2025.cz\" title='Download PDF' class='papercite_pdf'>[Download PDF]<\/a>\n<div class=\"papercite_bibtex\" id=\"papercite_1_block\">\n<pre><code class=\"tex bibtex\">@inproceedings{0a1d528b681b4dc7a81b6b8487df795e,\ntitle = \"Evaluation Techniques for Modern Military Camouflage\",\nauthor = \"Kasper Cools and Clara Maathuis and De Cubber, Geert and Marijke Vandewal and Nikos Deligiannis\",\nyear = \"2025\",\nlanguage = \"Nederlands\",\nbooktitle = \"Evaluation Techniques for Modern Military Camouflage\",\nnote = \"International Conference on Military Technologies 2025, ICMT2025 ; Conference date: 27-05-2025 Through 30-05-2025\",\nurl = \"https:\/\/icmt2025.cz\",\nunit= {meca-ras},\nproject= {ARC}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>    C. Maathuis and K. Cools, &#8220;FHATMO: Feedback Model for Human-AI Teaming in Military Operations,\" in <span style=\"font-style: italic\">FHATMO: Feedback Model for Human-AI Teaming in Military Operations<\/span>,  2025.    <br \/>   <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" id=\"papercite_2\" class=\"papercite_toggle\">[BibTeX]<\/a>         <a href=\"https:\/\/icmt2025.cz\" title='Download PDF' class='papercite_pdf'>[Download PDF]<\/a>\n<div class=\"papercite_bibtex\" id=\"papercite_2_block\">\n<pre><code class=\"tex bibtex\">@inproceedings{7b6f43681fff433b80174d2a190df291,\ntitle = \"FHATMO: Feedback Model for Human-AI Teaming in Military Operations\",\nauthor = \"Clara Maathuis and Kasper Cools\",\nyear = \"2025\",\nlanguage = \"Nederlands\",\nbooktitle = \"FHATMO: Feedback Model for Human-AI Teaming in Military Operations\",\nnote = \"International Conference on Military Technologies 2025, ICMT2025 ; Conference date: 27-05-2025 Through 30-05-2025\",\nurl = \"https:\/\/icmt2025.cz\",\nunit= {meca-ras},\nproject= {ARC}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>    C. Maathuis and K. Cools, &#8220;Risks and Control Measures for Building Trustworthy Autonomous Weapon Systems,\" in <span style=\"font-style: italic\">ICCWS &#8211; 20th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security<\/span>,  2025.    <br \/>   <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" id=\"papercite_3\" class=\"papercite_toggle\">[BibTeX]<\/a>\n<div class=\"papercite_bibtex\" id=\"papercite_3_block\">\n<pre><code class=\"tex bibtex\">@inproceedings{8087a20d04e3490ca837aa9b8f5d158c,\ntitle = \"Risks and Control Measures for Building Trustworthy Autonomous Weapon Systems\",\nauthor = \"Clara Maathuis and Kasper Cools\",\nyear = \"2025\",\nlanguage = \"Nederlands\",\nbooktitle = \"ICCWS - 20th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security\",\nunit= {meca-ras},\nproject= {ARC}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>    C. Maathuis and K. Cools, &#8220;The Role of AI in Military Cyber Security: Data Insights and Evaluation Methods,\" in <span style=\"font-style: italic\">The Role of AI in Military Cyber Security: Data Insights and Evaluation Methods<\/span>,  2025, p. 191\u2013200.    <br \/>   <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" id=\"papercite_4\" class=\"papercite_toggle\">[BibTeX]<\/a>         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1877050925004284\/pdf?md5=cb26bfdc1347c1719be794d52430711a&#038;pid=1-s2.0-S1877050925004284-main.pdf\" title='Download PDF' class='papercite_pdf'>[Download PDF]<\/a>         <a href='http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1016\/j.procs.2025.02.078' class='papercite_doi' title='View on publisher site'>[DOI]<\/a>\n<div class=\"papercite_bibtex\" id=\"papercite_4_block\">\n<pre><code class=\"tex bibtex\">@inproceedings{2cd3f64017734a629399671997131f32,\ntitle = \"The Role of AI in Military Cyber Security: Data Insights and Evaluation Methods\",\nauthor = \"Clara Maathuis and Kasper Cools\",\nyear = \"2025\",\ndoi = \"10.1016\/j.procs.2025.02.078\",\nlanguage = \"English\",\npages = \"191--200\",\nbooktitle = \"The Role of AI in Military Cyber Security: Data Insights and Evaluation Methods\",\npublisher = \"Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.\",\nurl=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1877050925004284\/pdf?md5=cb26bfdc1347c1719be794d52430711a&pid=1-s2.0-S1877050925004284-main.pdf\",\nunit= {meca-ras},\nproject= {ARC}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"papercite\">2024<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"papercite_bibliography\">\n<li>    K. Cools and C. Maathuis, &#8220;Trust or Bust: Ensuring Trustworthiness in Autonomous Weapon Systems,\" in <span style=\"font-style: italic\">IEEE Military Communication Conference 2024<\/span>,  2024.    <br \/>   <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" id=\"papercite_5\" class=\"papercite_toggle\">[BibTeX]<\/a>         <a href=\"https:\/\/milcom2024.ieee-milcom.org\/\" title='Download PDF' class='papercite_pdf'>[Download PDF]<\/a>         <a href='http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1109\/MILCOM61039.2024.10773908' class='papercite_doi' title='View on publisher site'>[DOI]<\/a>\n<div class=\"papercite_bibtex\" id=\"papercite_5_block\">\n<pre><code class=\"tex bibtex\">@inproceedings{b0d1d2ad7c7446dfbe873b15d4b3b337,\ntitle = \"Trust or Bust: Ensuring Trustworthiness in Autonomous Weapon Systems\",\nauthor = \"Kasper Cools and Clara Maathuis\",\nyear = \"2024\",\nmonth = dec,\ndoi = \"10.1109\/MILCOM61039.2024.10773908\",\nlanguage = \"English\",\nbooktitle = \"IEEE Military Communication Conference 2024\",\nnote = \"2024 IEEE Military Communications Conference ; Conference date: 28-10-2024 Through 01-11-2024\",\nurl = \"https:\/\/milcom2024.ieee-milcom.org\/\",\nunit= {meca-ras},\nproject= {ARC}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"papercite\">2012<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"papercite_bibliography\">\n<li>    G. De Cubber, D. Doroftei, Y. Baudoin, D. Serrano, K. Chintamani, R. Sabino, and S. Ourevitch, &#8220;ICARUS: AN EU-FP7 PROJECT PROVIDING UNMANNED SEARCH AND RESCUE TOOLS,\" in <span style=\"font-style: italic\">IROS2012 Workshop on Robots and Sensors integration in future rescue INformation system (ROSIN&#8217;12)<\/span>, Villamoura, Portugal,  2012.    <br \/>   <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" id=\"papercite_6\" class=\"papercite_toggle\">[BibTeX]<\/a>      <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" id=\"papercite_abstract_6\" class=\"papercite_toggle\">[Abstract]<\/a>         <a href=\"http:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/pub\/2012\/Icarus - ROSIN2012 Presentation.pdf\" title='Download PDF' class='papercite_pdf'>[Download PDF]<\/a><br \/>\n<blockquote class=\"papercite_bibtex\" id=\"papercite_abstract_6_block\">\n<p>Overview of the objectives of the ICARUS project<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"papercite_bibtex\" id=\"papercite_6_block\">\n<pre><code class=\"tex bibtex\">@InProceedings{de2012icarus02,\nauthor = {De Cubber, Geert and Doroftei, Daniela and Baudoin, Y and Serrano, D and Chintamani, K and Sabino, R and Ourevitch, S},\nbooktitle = {IROS2012 Workshop on Robots and Sensors integration in future rescue INformation system (ROSIN'12)},\ntitle = {{ICARUS}: AN {EU-FP7} PROJECT PROVIDING UNMANNED SEARCH AND RESCUE TOOLS},\nyear = {2012},\nabstract = {Overview of the objectives of the ICARUS project},\nproject = {ICARUS},\naddress = {Villamoura, Portugal},\nurl = {http:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/pub\/2012\/Icarus - ROSIN2012 Presentation.pdf},\nunit= {meca-ras}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><section class=\"kc-elm kc-css-542088 kc_row\"><div class=\"kc-row-container  kc-container\"><div class=\"kc-wrap-columns\"><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-164260 kc_col-sm-12 kc_column kc_col-sm-12\"><div class=\"kc-col-container\"><div class=\"kc-elm kc-css-580349\" style=\"height: 20px; clear: both; width:100%;\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4728,"parent":2797,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4726","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4726"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5407,"href":"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4726\/revisions\/5407"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecatron.rma.ac.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}