In my previous article, I covered graduate projects in the Department of Software Engineering that deal with real-time field combat assistance systems for the IDF. In this article I will discuss projects involving strategic counterterrorism software, which greatly assist in making important decisions and expanding the intelligence picture. This is a continuation of our discussion of the line in defense and security that the department encourages through partnerships between military bodies and various departments at Shenkar.

It’s important to note that although each project focuses on a specific aspect of this field, with specific goals relating to it, they all have the common goal of preventing terrorism and obtaining an accurate intelligence picture of the situation on the ground.

One of the projects is MAKHELA, created by students Sveta Gimpelson and Yaniv Ben Hamo, and supervised by Dr. Yonit Rusho and Mr. Itzhak Nudler.

The military goal of the project is to gain intelligence about the professional discourse on Twitter regarding Iran. The network is flooded with widespread and scattered discussions about security issues involving Iran, and there is a real difficulty in presenting an up-to-date picture of the discourse. The MAKHELA system was created to allow analysts and researchers from intelligence communities to obtain a snapshot of the professional discourse on Twitter about Iran, see changes among influencers, ask research questions, and understand who has the most influence and what they are saying. The system makes the information accessible both visually and interactively, thus making it easier for the user to make decisions.

I interviewed Sveta and Yaniv, the project developers, in order to understand more about the nature of the system and about their work process. According to them, due to the complexity of the project's subject—which deals with intricate models and with the analysis of social networks—it touched on topics that are not taught in specific courses in the degree. What did help them, and served as the foundations for starting the project, is the variety of courses that were taught throughout the degree. These courses provided a breadth of knowledge which helped them deal with the challenges of project planning. The course “Introduction to Algorithms”, for example, provided them with knowledge of various problem-solving algorithms; and through this project, the algorithms that they learned took on a different interpretation.

In addition, they noted that their advisors gave them focused guidance at every step of the way, provided them with challenges, and were always there for questions and advice; and that in general there was an excellent level of collaboration with both advisors and staff.

After they developed the system, they wanted to test it out on a specific topic (not necessarily Iran) to see if it worked. They rebooted the system and applied it to “green energy” and “green fuel”. The system was able to pull up the Twitter posts of fifty influencers in the field of green energy after these keywords had been entered. Sveta and Yaniv also explained that a whole sentence could be entered as input and the system would provide posts which include the most words from the sentence. In other words, the MAKHELA system is a solution not only for the military, but for a wide range of fields in which there is social discourse on Twitter. Users can actively apply the system to any topic they like, to examine the discourse of online influencers and draw decisive insights on the subject.

This project was widely covered in the media:

• https://www.hometheater.co.il/article09363.html?fbclid=IwAR2LZlH0HziImclw5ucRmYQrGUrGvXab8l4RXPLLCdhrusW50UZR7cH4aIA
• https://il.ign.com/entertainment/51071/news/trvkt-hndst-tvknh-shnqr-sykvm-ayrv?amp=1&fbclid=IwAR0dCJbQg_sHYMX5N7Kw1KtAPRPZNVlmsfroJ8Xo2j8

Another project, extensively reviewed on the Geektime tech website, addresses a different security challenge: the threat of incendiary balloons (balloons laden with incendiary and explosive devices) launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip. The system is called BODS: Balloon Object Detection System, and it is the brainchild of students Dor Munsa, Sahar Gezer, and Ori Kfir, supervised by Prof. Avivit Levy.

The threat of these incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip, which have sparked fires in southern Israel, was the primary motivation for the development of the BODS system—a real-time system based on artificial intelligence, aimed at identifying balloons in the air and alerting others. The BODS Balloon Object Detection System computerized vision system is based on the development of a unique algorithm that uses image processing technologies combined with a neural network. The system has demonstrated the operational capability to detect balloons in the air even in conditions of poor visibility, and has a detection distance more than 30 times greater than previously-known algorithms. The system integrates control and monitoring in a number of information centers (according to the locations of static cameras in the field), provides real-time alerts of identified balloons, and collects statistics for the purposes of analysis.

This project was extensively reviewed on the Geektime tech site.

Another project in the field of analytics:

A system for analyzing Instagram accounts to identify whether they are bots.

The system analyzes the profile’s content and behavior on the network and classifies the user's credibility: real or fake. Looking forward, the system will be able to identify fake profiles aimed at kidnapping soldiers.

Students: Eldad Corem, Terry Meir, Yotam Nitzan.

Supervisors: Dr. Braha-Riva Shalom, Dr. Yigal Hoffner.

In summary, the variety of the projects completed in the department over the years, from a range of categories in diverse fields relating to the military, reflects the desire of Shenkar’s students to address a wide range of burning issues in the fields of security, military, and the protection of human life; with an emphasis on the numerous collaborations with institutions such as Motorola Israel and the Intelligence Corps, alongside collaborations with various departments at Shenkar, such as Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Industrial Design, and more.

All this is conducted with the involvement of the department, led by Dr. Yonit Rusho, through events, conferences, lectures, and collaborations with military bodies and units.

Written by Maya Riklis