A Cross-Frequency Protective Emblem: Protective Options for Medical Units and Wounded Soldiers in the Context of (fully) Autonomous Warfare

Abstract

The protection of non-combatants in times of (fully) autonomous warfare raises the question of the timeliness of the international protective emblem. Incidents in the recent past indicate that it is becoming necessary to transfer the protective emblem to other dimensions of transmission and representation. (Fully) Autonomous weapon systems are often launched from a great distance to the aiming point and there may be no possibility for the operators to notice protective emblems at the point of impact. In this case, the weapon system would have to detect such protective emblems and, if necessary, disintegrate autonomously or request an abort via human-in-the-loop. In our paper, we suggest ways in which a cross-frequency protective emblem can be designed. On the one hand, the technical deployment, e.g. in the form of RADAR beacons, is considered, as well as the interpretation by methods of machine learning. With regard to the technical deployment, possibilities are considered to address different sensors and to send signals out as resiliently as possible. When considering different signals, approaches are considered as to how software can recognise the protective emblems under the influence of various boundary conditions and react to them accordingly. In particular, a distinction is made here between the recognition of actively emitted signals and passive protective signals, e.g. the recognition of wounded or surrendering persons via drone-based electro-optical and thermal cameras. Finally, methods of distribution are considered, including encryption and authentication of the received signal, and ethical aspects of possible misuse are examined.