DHS Plans Experiment Running 'Reconnaissance' Drones Along the US-Canada Border

The US Department of Homeland Security, in collaboration with the Defense Research and Development Canada, is looking to send autonomous drones and vehicles along the US-Canada border this fall, testing which products can stream surveillance video and sensor data between the two countries using commercial 5G networks. A new DHS call for participants frames the experiment, known as ACE-CASPER, as a multiday exercise "simulating a national emergency response scenario," with drones and ground vehicles relaying live feeds to a bi-national command-and-control center as they cross the border. Vehicle autonomy, the document notes, is secondary to its primary aim: demonstrating "resilient, persistent 5G communications." DHS and DRDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Scheduled for November, the tests would be the first joint US-Canada cross-border technology experiment along their shared border in nearly a decade.