NEST is a research project funded by Horizon2020 with an aim at research and development of novel CBRN technologies and innovations. NEST mainly addresses the challenge of developing multipurpose CBRN threats detectors embedded in the buildings.
The project with duration of 36 months (May 2021 – May 2024) and a total budget of 3.5 Million Euros brings together European SMEs, industries, and research/academic institutions from the ICT and CBRN domains.
The security of critical infrastructures is a shared responsibility between different stakeholders. The threats detection and response at initial phases falls to the owners and operators who know the infrastructure best. NEST will design and implement a novel and unique standoff system with the capability to detect multiple threats amongst which CBRN threats or pandemic viruses. It will support owners, operators, and security staff by providing (i) threat indications and warnings, and (ii) guidance for facility security by developing appropriate information-sharing and analysis mechanisms. The system will rely on the simultaneous use of low-cost CBRN detectors embedded in one unique detection equipment, which can be located into different sites inside the building or carried by security staff. The use of low-cost sensors will enable to cover a wide space inside. NEST will help in the early detection of CBRN threats in real time, and also provide complementary information-such as such location of threats, temperature, humidity, time, operators involved, etc.-useful for auditing or investigation purposes. These functionalities will be achieved by using an IoT platform capable of acquiring, processing, and merging data from internal and third-party services. Artificial intelligence will be applied to support decision process for securing facilities and for generating automatic alerts. Furthermore, augmented reality will be used to display threats and hazards in a manner that minimise distraction and cognitive failures.
NEST will be validated in three different scenarios by sharing information with the command canters of a stadium in Poland, a transport system in Portugal, and a hotel in Spain. These scenarios include a diverse range of sites that draw large crowds of people. As a result of this action, owners, operators, and security staff will benefit from a universal system that will lay the foundations for creating a standardisation framework.
The consortium with 10 partner organisations is led by AMPER S&C IoT (Spain). The consortium is well-balanced in terms of involvement of industrial and SME partners: WoePal GmbH (Germany), Thales (Portugal), Dynamic Safety Corporation (Poland); Academic and research institutions: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain), University of Lodz (Poland), Asociación Española de Normalización (Spain); end-users partners from commercial and transportation facilities: Comboios de Portugal (Portugal), Lech Poznań (Poland), and Atiram Hotels (Spain). Furthermore, NEST has initiated a Security Advisory Board which consists of Mossos d’Esquadra as Law Enforcement Agency (LEA), and experts in the CBRN field. In addition, an Ethics Committee will assess ethical aspects of the project.