Shield Dynamics

Autonomous minefield detection and reconnaissance

Nobody should have to walk the minefield

Shield Dynamics is a Canadian company building a tiered set of autonomous platforms that survey suspected hazardous areas, detect buried explosive ordnance and map it for clearance, with people supervising from a safe distance.

Our mission Talk to our team
Tier 1 · Air
Eagle
Tier 2 · Carrier
Tortoise
Tier 3 · Ground
Cobra
Tiered survey configuration, side elevation Schematic side view of a marked search lane. The Eagle fixed-wing aircraft flies above, scanning the ground ahead. The Tortoise tracked carrier sits in the lane with its rear ramp lowered, having released a Cobra unit. Narrow directional beams run from a mast on Tortoise to Eagle (air link) and down to Cobra (ground link). Cobra, a small rigid four-segment tracked vehicle, moves toward rough terrain with low vegetation and a small tree, where buried objects lie below the surface. FIG. 1 · TIERED SURVEY CONFIGURATION · SIDE ELEVATION NOT TO SCALE DETECTION ZONE MARKED SEARCH LANE AIR LINK GROUND LINK EAGLE AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE TORTOISE CARRIER · COMMUNICATIONS COBRA SUBSURFACE DETECTION Multi-unit lane coverage, plan view Top-down view of the marked lane. Tortoise sits at the rear of the lane. Four Cobra units, shown as small rectangles, fan out ahead of it to different positions across the lane's width, each searching its own strip toward the far end of the lane. FIG. 2 · MULTI-UNIT LANE COVERAGE · PLAN VIEW · NOT TO SCALE TORTOISE COBRA ×4 LANE WIDTH DIRECTION OF ADVANCE

01 · The problem

Mines outlast the wars that laid them

Landmines and explosive remnants of war stay in the ground long after conflicts end. Survey and detection are still largely manual, slow and dangerous for the people doing the work. Large areas are often treated as hazardous because nobody can confirm where the mines actually are.

Our approach is to move people out of the hazard area. Autonomous systems do the survey and detection work, and human operators supervise and make decisions from a safe distance.

02 · System architecture

Three tiers. One picture of the ground.

Each platform has a distinct role. They share data, so a survey moves from wide-area reconnaissance to close-range confirmation.

Eagle, side elevation Side view of the Eagle aircraft in flight with its sensor gimbal projecting a survey footprint onto the ground below. FIG. E-1 · EAGLE · SIDE ELEVATION SENSORFOOTPRINT LIDAR · MULTISPECTRAL · THERMAL

Tier 1 · Aerial reconnaissance

Eagle

A VTOL fixed-wing aircraft that surveys the area from above. It maps terrain and surface indicators and defines where ground detection should focus.

Wingspan
3.20 m
MTOW
≈ 22 kg
Launch
Vertical take-off
Sensors
Lidar · MS · Thermal
Eagle platform
Tortoise, side elevation, deploying a Cobra unit Side view of the Tortoise tracked carrier with its rear ramp lowered and a Cobra unit driving away from it, while the communications mast relays signals. FIG. T-1 · TORTOISE · SIDE ELEVATION CARRIER · RELAY · DEPLOYMENT

Tier 2 · Carrier and communications

Tortoise

A heavy tracked carrier. It transports Cobra units to the work area, deploys them over its rear ramp, and hosts the communications link between the platforms and operators.

Mobility
Tracked
Payload
Cobra units
Deployment
Rear ramp
Role
Air / ground relay
Tortoise platform
Cobra, side elevation, detecting a buried object Side view of the Cobra unit, four tracked segments with a forward detector head sensing a buried object beneath the ground. FIG. C-1 · COBRA · SIDE ELEVATION SUBSURFACE DETECTION · LANE SEARCH

Tier 3 · Close-range detection

Cobra

A small, segmented tracked unit that moves through the suspected area and carries out close-range detection of buried objects. Several Cobras work in parallel lanes.

Mobility
4 tracked segments
Sensing
Subsurface
Search
Autonomous lanes
Link
Via Tortoise
Cobra platform

03 · Concept of operations

Survey. Deploy. Detect. Report.

  1. Survey

    Eagle flies the suspected area and builds a map of terrain, access routes and surface indicators.

  2. Deploy

    Tortoise brings Cobra units to the edge of the area and releases them along planned lanes.

  3. Detect

    Cobra units search their lanes and report suspected objects with their positions.

  4. Report

    Results are relayed through Tortoise to operators, who review the findings and plan clearance.

04 · Applications

Built for two missions

APP-01

Defence

Route and area reconnaissance where forces need to know whether ground is safe to cross, while keeping personnel out of the hazard.

APP-02

Humanitarian demining

Survey work that helps organisations confirm where contamination is and return uncontaminated land to communities sooner.

Careers

Build the machines that go first

We're hiring engineers and operators who want their work to keep people out of harm's way.

View careers