Highlight 1

Novel sensors and on‐board processing generation. The focus will be on developing and integrating sensors of low weight, low cost, high resolution, which can operate under variable conditions such as darkness, snow, and rain.

Highlight 2

A two‐tier intelligent heterogeneous airborne sensor network will be integrated in order to provide both large field and focused surveillance capabilities. In this network, the first‐tier sensors, carried by medium altitude, long‐endurance aerial platforms are used to patrol large border areas to detect suspicious targets and provide global situation awareness. Fed with the information collected by the first‐tier sensors, the second‐tier sensors will be deployed to provide more focused surveillance capability by tracking the targets and collecting further evidence for more accurate target recognition and threat evaluation.

Highlight 3

The exploitation and adaptation of emerging standard wireless technologies and architectures to the SUNNY scenarios.