DOD Eye Sensors to Give 'Urban Canyon Visibility.

摘要

Washington DC -- The US Department of Defense (DoD) is considering supplying troops with low-cost, disposable hand-held sensors that can be flised into an intelligence network accessible at the lowest levels on the future urban battlefield. The Smart Sensor Web initiative will initially use $7 million in science and technology funding and begin testing in August at the US Army's military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) training facility, Ft Benning, Georgia. Project officials want to equip troops with a large number and variety of sensors, such as thousands of acoustic, optical, weather, seismic and magnetic sensors. Such devices will soon be available on the commercial market for as little as $ 10 each. These sensors, planted around the battlefield by troops, would feed data into a network to give a better battlespace picture than is currently available. 'We're focused on the lowest levels of the military, especially in urban combat', said Jasper Lupo, director of sensor systems in the DoD's Science & Technology (S&T) office. He envisions a group of soldiers 'moving from building to building placing cameras instead of bombs on the sides of buildings'. Present urban-terrain operations use traditional surveillance platforms such as satellites and aircraft. However shadows and other masking effects make their job difficult. The Smart Sensor Web could deliver 'the kind of visibility in urban canyons that we haven't seen before', Lupo said, adding that the Smart Sensor Web will be pursued in incremental steps or 'sub-webs'.