Guidance

Autonomous Sensor Management and Sensor Counter Deception Phase 2: Competition Document

Published 2 December 2025

1. Introduction

The Defence and Security Accelerator, part of UK Defence Innovation (UKDI-DASA), in partnership with the Defence Science Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is seeking proposals for innovations which will deliver autonomous sensor management and fusion approaches, which are able to detect and counter activity designed to deceive Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)  [1] efforts. Building on Phase 1, which focused on developing algorithmic solutions and simulated demonstrations, Phase 2 will deliver solutions at TRL 6 , to be demonstrated using representative sensing networks  . Projects are expected to run from May 2026 to December 2027    for not less than 18 months with up to £1 million funding available. We expect to fund up to two collaborative projects. Participation in Phase 1 is not a requirement to submit a proposal in Phase 2.

The Ministry of Defence has committed to investing more than £1bn to integrate our Armed Forces through a new Digital Targeting Web, set to be delivered in 2027. This will operate across the integrated force by connecting sensors, deciders and effectors to create choice and speed when operating in any contested domain, including electromagnetic (EM), space and cyber. Practical methods which detect and counter activities designed to deceive the ISR picture are crucial for such operations; adversaries inherently hide their state and project false intent in order to maximize the success of their own missions. Defence scenarios are nearly unique in this respect, and we therefore cannot rely on methods developed for more benign or cooperative situations. Techniques must actively be crafted which have the understanding of deceptive activity built-in.

This competition is part of Dstl’s Sensor Fusion and Management (SFM) project which promotes research and development into sensor management, information fusion and countering ISR deception. The project sits under Dstl’s Sense & Understand  programme and the research generated feeds into the “Sensing” defence capability.  

2. Competition key information

Key Information	Competition Details
Submission deadline	12:00 Midday on 10 February 2026 (GMT)
Total funding available	£1M (excluding VAT). A number of proposals may be funded
Technology Readiness Level (TRL)	Starting at TRL 4, ending at TRL 6
Contract start month	Aim to start May 2026
Project duration	Projects to complete no later than 31 December 2027
Cyber Risk Assessment (CRA) number and risk level	RAR-251127B05, Very Low Risk
Feedback release date	05 May 2026
Pre-sift criteria	See Section 8 Pre-sift Criteria

2.1 Competition Specific Requirements  

Please note that this competition has specific deliverables as part of its pre-sift criteria. Only those proposals that demonstrate compliance with the UKDI-DASA pre-sift criteria will be taken forward to full assessment. For the full list of criteria, please see Section 8.

We require the innovation to be demonstrated at TRL 6 at the culmination of Phase 2 (i.e. before 31st December 2027).

We are looking for innovations with strong exploitation potential via the exploitation plan within the desirability section of the proposal. We are also looking for strong evidence within the feasibility section of the proposal on expertise and capabilities in bringing products to market. Evidence of active participation from all those within the exploitation plan should be documented. There is a strong preference for proposals that are collaborative.

Note that collaborators should not be ‘silent partners’ but rather have an active role in shaping the demonstration with an understanding of how the innovation may subsequently be scaled up. Evidence of active participation from all those within the exploitation plan should be documented.

Participation in Phase 1 of this call is not a pre-requisite for participation in Phase 2. We do not intend, however, to cover the same early development stages as Phase 1 and therefore will not fund innovations which require development below TRL 4.

2.2 Where do I submit my proposal?

Via the UKDI-DASA Online Submission Service where you will need to register for an account. Only proposals submitted through the UKDI-DASA Online Submission Service will be accepted.

2.3 Public facing information

When submitting your proposal, you will be required to include a title, Proposal Value Proposition Statement (PVPS) and a short abstract. The title, PVPS and abstract you provide will be used by UKDI-DASA, and Partners Across Government (PAG), to describe your project and its intended outcomes and benefits. They may be included at UKDI-DASA events in relation to this competition and in documentation such as brochures. As this information can be shared, it should not contain information that may compromise Intellectual Property.

2.4 Further guidance

For further guidance on what to expect during the submission process and how your proposal will be assessed, please see the following GOV.UK pages and forms:

• Submit a proposal
• Assessment process and criteria
• Defence and Security Accelerator: ethical, legal and regulatory guidance
• MODREC Guidance for Suppliers
• Competition Terms and Conditions
• UKDI-DASA Standard Terms and Conditions
• Supplier Assurance Questionnaire (SAQ)
• How to get in touch with your local Innovation Partner

3. Supporting activities

3.1 Launch webinar

16 December 2025 – Launch webinar providing further detail on the problem space and a chance to ask questions in an open forum. If you would like to participate, please register on the Eventbrite page.

Non-technical questions about the competition process should be sent to the UKDI-DASA Help Centre, accelerator@dstl.gov.uk.

3.2 Collaboration survey

Collaboration between innovators, small and medium enterprises, and systems integrators is strongly encouraged for this competition  . To support this, we have a short survey to collect details of those who wish to explore collaboration possibilities. If you are interested, please complete the collaboration survey.

The information (including personal details) you provide will be circulated among the innovators who have completed the survey. The sharing of details will only be done after an initial screening process has taken place; we reserve the right to not share all details.

All collaboration for proposal submissions is on an innovator-innovator basis. It is the innovators’ responsibility to determine the suitability of collaborators.

Inclusion or absence of collaboration  will not preclude assessment  .

3.3 Innovation Outline

If you are uncertain of the relevance of your innovation, it is strongly recommended that you contact your local UKDI-DASA Innovation Partner to discuss your idea. You can initiate this through the submission of a Contact UKDI-DASA Form by following instructions on the Contact a UKDI-DASA Innovation Partner page if you do not already have an established relationship with your local Innovation Partner.

Your local Innovation Partner will initially explore the suitability of your idea within the context of the requirements of the competition. With specific interest in the aspects covered within the Competition Scope section.

Your local Innovation Partner will, if required, also advise you on the submission of an Innovation Outline (IO), primarily used to further explore the relevance of your idea to the competition.

You must submit this IO through the Submission Service regardless of an established relationship with your local Innovation Partner.

To submit an IO:

• log in to the submission service
• select the service category UKDI-DASA Innovation Outline
• from the service name select Innovation Outline: Competition Name
• complete the form

Your local Innovation Partner will be able to advise you on the IO content.

Submission of an IO for this competition will allow socialisation of the idea across the competition team, all elements of the IO will be shared. The competition team is made up of UKDI-DASA and Dstl staff. You should receive a response within two weeks, confirming whether or not your idea is in scope. The competition closes at 12:00 Midday on 10 February 2026 (GMT). UKDI-DASA cannot guarantee a response to an IO received after 27 January 2026.

All information you provide to us as part of your IO, that is not already available to us from other sources, will be handled in confidence. We will only share the information with those who can establish if your innovation is within scope of the competition. The information will only be used for the purposes for which it is provided to us. It won’t be used for other purposes, without us having obtained the necessary rights and permissions to do so.

Submitting an IO or speaking to your local innovation partner is not a mandatory criteria of this competition.

4. Competition scope

4.1 Background

All military decision making requires an understanding of the current and potential tactical, operational and strategic environment. Such situational awareness relies on good ISR. In the modern warfighting context, there is a requirement to move from low-level ISR processes that are human-centric (for example, analysis for imagery intelligence) to those which employ a higher fraction of autonomy (for example, drone swarm operations). This tightens the direct-collect-process-disseminate (DCPD) cycle and so increases the tempo of operations. Examples of such autonomous sensor management could include selecting and moving sensors or platforms to search for objects of interest, detect targets, identify, recognize, track, among many others, including more complex multi-objective problems. Despite being well explored in the academic literature, practical autonomous sensor management algorithms are still not widely fielded. This currently places an undue burden on human operators; ultimately we want to free them to concentrate on higher-level tasks, drawing out mission-relevant information or making fine judgements.

Military scenarios, are, moreover, particularly challenging in that the ISR picture is complicated by targets who intentionally hide, misrepresent themselves and modify the environment to obscure their intent. This is clearly a challenge for autonomous processes, and one which the current generation of sensor management and information fusion algorithms, having been largely built for benign environments, is not fit to address.

This competition therefore addresses the question of how to undertake autonomous sensor management in scenarios where deceptive entities are active. The SFM project under Dstl’s Sense & Understand programme is leading on sensor fusion and management S&T research. The competition seeks methods to enable, and techniques for, detecting and mitigating deceptive activities when compiling and using an ISR picture.

Other project themes include data fusion, architectural approaches to fusion in distributed networks and enterprises, and development of open standards and frameworks. This includes development work on the SAPIENT  sensor integration standard and concept, now available as British Standards Institute (BSI) Flex 335. Dstl’s principal evaluation and testing route for novel algorithms is via Stone Soup. Stone Soup is an open-source software framework for the assessment of tracking and state estimation algorithms. The SFM project is also supporting development of a concept for the next generation ISR enterprise where collection asset tasks are created and allocated autonomously, depending on developing requirements and asset availability. The concept is known as Reactive ISR.

4.2 Scope

This competition seeks:

• autonomous sensor management and information fusion approaches to counter activity which seeks to deceive ISR operations
• demonstration using a representative sensing network in a relevant environment (i.e. at Technology Readiness Level 6)
• use of open standards, in particular to interface with the wider ISR enterprise via the SAPIENT   standard
• innovations capable of being brought to market by an appropriate collaboration between development partners
• suppliers to look beyond phase 2 by using collaborative demonstration opportunities with a diverse range of stakeholders.

Phase 2 projects will deliver outputs at TRL 6. There will be the opportunity to work with Dstl to integrate solutions into a larger-scale demonstration of these algorithms, through an integrated physical demonstration, utilising the SAPIENT standard and compatible sensors. As part of MOD’s ‘NATO first’ strategy, demonstration via the NATO Innovation Continuum  series of events is strongly encouraged. This is an allied initiative to accelerate the adoption of emerging and disruptive technologies . The event will be a high-profile opportunity to demonstrate innovations in front of a defence stakeholder audience. [[2]] More detail can be found here. Working with Dstl, suppliers should aim to attend the 2026 series of events as observers with the view to participating in 2027. Prospective suppliers should include appropriate costings for travel and subsistence for staff at these events in their proposals. Dstl can help successful suppliers in this competition facilitate appropriate introductions, shape scenarios, vignettes and look for other opportunities to interact . Please note: Dstl and NATO cannot guarantee that sensors or other appropriate infrastructure will be available for successful participants to use to demonstrate their innovations. Participants should ensure their demonstration is fully prepared and self-sufficient should integration be impeded by issues beyond our or their control.

Ultimately we require solutions which could be integrated with the wider ISR enterprise. We therefore require open, flexible, and modular architectures to enable integration. As such, compatibility with open standards and frameworks such as SAPIENT  is highly desirable.

4.3 Exploitation

Innovators should provide an exploitation plan as a deliverable toward the end of the project, as well as document exploitation opportunities that have arisen as a result of interactions with stakeholders during the project . Dstl’s Sense and Understand programme, via its dedicated exploitation project, ‘ExPO’, will work with suppliers to identify exploitation opportunities. Suppliers may wish to consider these in addition to those outlined in the original proposal.

5. Competition challenge  

This competition seeks proposals that will deliver autonomous sensor fusion and management solutions, to counter deceptive activity in ISR scenarios, to be demonstrated at TRL 6 using representative sensing networks.

Phase 1 of this competition, namely autonomous sensor management and sensor counter deception sought solutions to two challenges, sensor management and sensor counter deception, separately. This phase 2 now brings these together by soliciting autonomous sensor management techniques to counter deceptive activity as an integrated whole.   

Suppliers should take the opportunity to work with Dstl as part of this project, to integrate solutions into a larger-scale demonstration of these algorithms, through an integrated physical demonstration, utilising the SAPIENT standard and compatible sensors. The intended demonstration opportunity is via the NATO Innovation Continuum 2027.

5.1 We are interested in…

We want novel ideas to benefit end-users working in UK defence and security. Your proposal should include evidence of:

• a credible plan for a TRL 6 demonstration which addresses the challenge outlined above. This competition seeks novel solutions for autonomous sensor management to counter the deception of ISR capabilities in relevant scenarios
• contributions which make use of open standards (e.g. SAPIENT) such that they are readily integrable into the wider ISR enterprise
• suppliers’ innovations having a clear plan for transition to market by a suitably experienced collaboration
• the collaboration itself being composed of the appropriate mix of, e.g., innovation, manufacturing, market experts, each with a defined role
• clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to any defence and security context

5.2 We are not interested in…

We are not interested in proposals that:

• deliver or demonstrate their invention in proprietorial form or with restrictive constraints in the form of libraries, licences, executables, etc. which impair the ability of Dstl to evaluate and assure the deliverable
• do not offer a credible exploitation plan
• deliver below TRL 6
• undertake development work below TRL 4
• constitute consultancy, paper-based studies or literature reviews which just summarise the existing literature without any view of future innovation
• are an unsolicited resubmission of a previous UKDI-DASA bid
• offer demonstrations of off-the-shelf products requiring no experimental development (unless applied in a novel way to the challenge)
• offer no real long-term prospect of integration into defence and security capabilities
• offer no real prospect of out-competing existing technological solutions

6. Critical elements to include

When writing your proposal, ensure you have:

• focused on the Phase 2 requirements but also included an (un-costed) outline of the next stages of work required for future exploitation
• included a list of other government funding you have received in this area. Making it clear how this proposal differs from that work
• included a detailed project plan with clear milestones and deliverables. Deliverables need to be well defined and designed to provide evidence of progress against the project plan. Your deliverables must include a written final report
• included clear articulation of collaboration plans within the viability section
• planned (and costed) attendance at the following meetings ,.
  • a kick-off meeting at the start of Phase 2 at the supplier’s site
  • monthly reviews with the appointed Technical Partner and Project Manager (virtual)
  • close down meeting at the end of the project
  • in person attendance at NATO Innovation Continuum SHINE 2026 as observers in order to prepare for the final demonstration, see next point (location and date TBC)
  • in person attendance at NATO Innovation Continuum SHINE 2027 as participants for the purposes of the TRL 6 demonstration of their innovations is highly desirable (location and date TBC). If for any reason this event isn’t an appropriate forum at which to demonstrate your innovation, please articulate why in your submission and suggest an alternative plan to demonstrate.

Slides presented by the innovator at these meetings should be appropriately marked and made available.

• identified any ethical / legal / regulatory factors. Associated risks should have been added to the Risk Register in Step 5 of the submission service along with details of how they will be managed, including break points in the project if approvals are not received
• included any requirements for access to Government Furnished X (GFX). GFX is the preferred nondescript term for anything that the Government provides in which the ‘X’ could be artefacts such as information or equipment. UKDI-DASA cannot guarantee that GFX will be made available. You should have included an alternative plan in your proposal in case it is not available.

7. Accelerating and exploiting your innovation

Ensure your deliverables are designed with the aim of making it as easy as possible for assessors to recognise expected development in technology maturity of the potential solution over the lifetime of the project. Specifically, how this demonstrates improved capability against the current known (or presumed) solutions.

Over the lifetime of UKDI-DASA awarded projects, ideas may mature and accelerate under the guidance of appropriate stakeholders, toward being functional capabilities. How long this takes, and how far towards a deployable capability the innovations progress, will depend on any future exploitation after the completion of the UKDI-DASA project.

Low TRL research and development may not be able to articulate exploitation in great detail, but it should be clear that there is credible advantage to be gained from the technology development.

7.1 Exploitation beyond your project plan

Include the following information within the Exploitation question within the UKDI-DASA Online Submission Service application form to help the assessors understand your exploitation intentions:

• expected additional work required beyond the end of the contract to develop an operationally deployable commercial product (for example, “scaling up” for manufacture, cyber security, integration with existing technologies, environmental operating conditions)
• additional future applications and wider markets for exploitation
• wider collaborations and networks you have already developed or any additional relationships you see as a requirement to support exploitation
• how your product could be tested in a representative environment in later phases
• any specific legal, ethical, commercial or regulatory considerations for exploitation

8. Pre-sift Criteria

Before your proposal is assessed, all proposals will be checked for compliance with the UKDI-DASA pre-sift criteria.  Proposals will be rejected before full assessment if they do not comply.

For more information on how your proposal will be assessed please read Assessment process and criteria.

Autonomous Sensor Management and Sensor Counter Deception pre-sift criteria is as follows:

Criteria	Measure - Within scope (Pass) / Out of scope (Fail)
The proposal outlines how it meets the scope of the competition	Pass / Fail
The proposal explains how it meets the UKDI-DASA criteria (Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability) in the relevant questions in Step 3 of the submission service	Pass / Fail
The proposal must contain a financial plan, a project plan and a resourcing plan which demonstrate how the work proposed will be completed	Pass / Fail
The delivery schedule within your proposal includes evidence of a written final report	Pass / Fail
The proposal confirms there is no need for MODREC	Pass / Fail
The proposal confirms there is no need for GFA	Pass / Fail
The proposal must contain an exploitation plan	Pass/Fail
The proposal must plan to demonstrate, preferably at NATO Innovation Continuum SHINE 2027. If this is not possible an alternate demonstration plan must be included.	Pass/Fail
The proposal must intend to provide an exploitation plan as a deliverable toward the end of the project, as well as document exploitation opportunities that have arisen as a result of interactions with stakeholders during the project	Pass/Fail
The final deliverable must be delivered no later than 31 December 2027	Pass / Fail
The TRL must progress from 4 to 6 over the duration of the project	Pass / Fail
The proposal does not contain attachments that have been used for additional text data over the stated word counts in Desirability, Feasibility, Viability and Additional Information	Pass / Fail
A resubmission of a previous proposal adheres to the resubmission guidelines	Pass / Fail

9. How your proposal will be assessed

Proposals that are compliant will be assessed against the standard UKDI-DASA assessment criteria (Desirability, Feasibility and Viability) by subject matter experts from the MOD (including Dstl), PAG and the front-line military commands. You will not have the opportunity to view or comment on assessors’ recommendations.

UKDI-DASA reserves the right to disclose on a confidential basis any information it receives from innovators during the procurement process, which includes the full proposal, to any third party engaged by UKDI-DASA for the specific purpose of evaluating or assisting UKDI-DASA in the evaluation of your proposal. In providing such information you consent to such disclosure. Appropriate confidentiality agreements will be put in place.

After assessment, proposals will be discussed at a Decision Conference where funding decisions are made based on the assessments, budget and wider strategic considerations.

Innovators are not permitted to attend the Decision Conference.

10. UKDI-DASA Terms and Conditions

Please read the UKDI-DASA Terms and Conditions which contain important information for innovators. For this competition we will be using the Innovation Standard Contract (ISC), Terms and Conditions. Information on the relevant DEFCONs can be found by registering on the Knowledge in Defence site.

We require unqualified acceptance of the Terms and Conditions. Where innovator organisations have a commercial department they will need to provide acceptance.

We will use deliverables from UKDI-DASA contracts in accordance with our rights detailed in the contract Terms and Conditions.

10.1 Feedback

Proposals that are unsuccessful will receive feedback in the form of bullet points and a couple of short paragraphs after the Decision Conference.

Where a proposal meets the fundable requirements for a competition, but is not funded, DASA will continue to seek funding and shall consider your proposal fundable for 12 months from the date of the feedback release.

We will share the abstract, Proposal Value Proposition Statement (PVPS) and title of your proposal with partners across His Majesty’s Government that may express an interest in funding the proposal through DASA, in accordance with the competition document. We may also share this information on our cross-government Ideas Marketplace platform to foster collaboration and attempt to elicit funding. If partners across His Majesty’s Government wish to read the full proposal to decide if they will fund it, we will share the full proposal with them without seeking your permission if it is within 60 days of the feedback release date. If it is over 60 days since the feedback release date we will seek your permission before sharing the full proposal with them.

For other potential funders, we will seek your permission before sharing the full proposal regardless of the number of days since the feedback release date.

In the event that funding becomes available, DASA may ask whether you would still be prepared to undertake the work outlined in your proposal under the same terms. Your official DASA feedback will indicate if your proposal was deemed fundable, but not awarded funding at the time.

11. If your proposal is recommended for funding

Funded projects will be allocated a Project Manager (to monitor the project) and a Technical Partner (as a technical point of contact). In addition, the UKDI-DASA team may work with an innovator to support delivery and exploitation including, when appropriate, introductions to end-users and business support to help develop their business.

11.1 Cyber Risk Assessment (CRA)

On receipt of a FUND decision, successful innovators must prove cyber resilience before the contract is awarded. The start of this process is the submission of a Supplier Assurance Questionnaire (SAQ). The SAQ allows innovators to demonstrate compliance with the specified risk level and the corresponding profile in Def Stan 05-138, and the level of control required will depend on this risk level.

To expedite the contracting time of successful innovators we ask all innovators to complete the SAQ before they submit their proposal (this is not mandated). The SAQ must be completed using the UKDI-DASA Risk Assessment number RAR-251127B05, answer questions for risk level “Very Low Risk”. In the SAQ form, for the contract name please use the competition title and for the contract description please use the title of your proposal.

The Defence Cyber Protection Partnership (DCPP) will review your SAQ submission and aim to respond within 2-5 working days with a reference number and an indication of your compliance status. They welcome emails if you think a response has not been provided in this time. There are 2 compliance statuses:

1. Compliant – no further action
2. Not compliant – you will be required to complete a Cyber Implementation Plan (CIP) before the contract is placed which will need to be reviewed and agreed with the relevant project manager or, a Cyber Essentials Certification (CEC) must be held before contract can be awarded. Further information and guidance on obtaining a CEC can be found here: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberessentials/overview

The email response from DCPP should be uploaded (JPG or PNG format) as part of your proposal before submission. You will also be asked to enter your SAQ reference number. Please allow enough time to receive the SAQ reference number prior to competition close at 12:00 midday on 10 February 2026 (GMT).

11.2 Export control for overseas partners

All relevant export control regulations will apply if a company ultimately wants to sell a developed solution to a foreign entity. All innovators must ensure that they can obtain, if required, the necessary export licences for their proposals and developments, such that they can be supplied to the UK and other countries. If you cannot confirm that you can gain the requisite licences, your proposal will be sifted out of the competition.

Additionally, if we believe that you will not be able to obtain export clearance, additional checks may be conducted, which may also result in your proposal being sifted out of the competition.

12. Points of Contact

During the competition phase all correspondence must be via the UKDI-DASA Points of Contact detailed below.

While all reasonable efforts will be made to answer queries, UKDI-DASA reserves the right to impose management controls if volumes of queries restrict fair access of information to all potential innovators.

12.1 Innovation Partner

UKDI-DASA has a team of locally based Innovation Partners that can provide support in working with UKDI-DASA. It is strongly recommended that you contact your local Innovation Partner to discuss your idea for any aspect of this competition.

You can initiate this through the submission of a Contact UKDI-DASA Form by following instructions on the Contact a UKDI-DASA Innovation Partner page if you do not already have an established relationship with your local Innovation Partner.

12.2 UKDI-DASA Help Centre

Competition queries including on process, application, commercial, technical and intellectual property aspects should be sent to the UKDI-DASA Help Centre at accelerator@dstl.gov.uk, quoting the competition title. UKDI-DASA cannot guarantee a response to a query after the 20 January 2026, 3 weeks before the competitions closes.

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[1] See MOD Joint Doctrine Note (JCN) 1/23 for detail on what is covered by ISR. The process of target acquisition (TA) is often detailed specifically by using “ISTAR” as opposed to “ISR”. JCN makes it clear that targeting is part of ISR and for the purposes of this call we take ISR and ISTAR to be synonymous.