Implementing SAPIENT

Implementing SAPIENT v7: A Roadmap for C-UAS Developers

You have decided to integrate SAPIENT into your C-UAS product. Perhaps you are a sensor manufacturer wanting to make your radar "SAPIENT-compliant," or a C2 developer building a fusion engine.

While SAPIENT provides a robust standard, it is not a turnkey software solution. It is an Interface Control Document (ICD) that defines the rules of the road. Based on the v7 ICD, here is what actually remains to be done by your development team to bridge the gap between the standard and a working system.

1. The "To-Do" List: What SAPIENT Does Not Give You SAPIENT provides the taxonomy and the message format, but it does not provide the "brain" or the "eyes." You must build:

• The Edge Logic (For Sensors/ASMs): SAPIENT requires sensors to be "smart." You cannot just stream raw I/Q data or video. Your engineering team must implement the computer vision or signal processing algorithms on the device to classify targets (e.g., differentiating a "Bird" from a "UAV Fixed Wing") before a message is ever sent.

• The Fusion Logic (For DMMs): The standard defines how a Decision Making Module (DMM) receives data, but not how it thinks. You must code the fusion algorithms that correlate a radar track with an optical track and decide if it constitutes a threat.

2. Speaking the Language: Protobuf and TCP In version 7, SAPIENT migrated from XML to Google Protocol Buffers (Protobuf). Your software stack must be capable of serializing and deserializing these binary messages over a TCP socket connection.

• Developer Tip: You will need to map your internal object classes to the SAPIENT Taxonomy. The standard provides a hierarchy (e.g., Class: Air Vehicle -> SubClass: UAV Rotary Wing), and your system must output these exact string types to ensure interoperability.

3. Tasking and Feedback Loops One of the most powerful features you need to implement is Tasking. In a SAPIENT network, the DMM can send a SensorTask message to an ASM.

• For Sensor Devs: Your API must be able to accept external commands like "Look at Location X" or "Change Mode to High Sensitivity" and mechanically/digitally execute them.

• For C2 Devs: You need to implement the logic that decides when to task a sensor. For instance, creating a logic loop that says, "If RF sensor detects signal, task PTZ camera to slew to bearing."

4. Handling Legacy Tech If you are working with existing "dumb" sensors, you will need to build a software wrapper or adaptor. This middle-layer software acts as a translator, taking the proprietary raw stream from the legacy sensor, performing the detection processing, and outputting the standardized SAPIENT Protobuf messages.

Summary SAPIENT v7 offers a powerful framework for C-UAS, but it shifts the heavy lifting to the edge. For developers, the focus moves from simply establishing connectivity to building intelligent, autonomous processing capabilities that can speak the common SAPIENT language.