With the attack on the United States and the subsequent war on terror and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq a need has been exposed for the transition of technology to all of our defenders both combat forces on the foreign battlefield and domestic forces here at home. The establishment of the Department of Homeland Security has also provided a focus on inserting technology to dramatically improve the capability of airport security forces, law enforcement, and all first responder networks. The drastic increase in the use of Special Forces in combat has also required new advanced technology capabilities at a much faster rate of development than the standard military procurement system. Technology developers must address the questions of interoperability, cost, commercialization, of how these groups will use the technology delivered and the adoption criteria of users in the deployment environment. The successful transition to the field must address the formation of complex concepts of operations in the user's adoption criteria. Prototype transition for two systems, a pocket infrared camera and an acoustic/seismic detector, will be highlighted in their effect on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the heightening of homeland security.
The DARPA funded sensors developed for the UGS program have provided a good starting point on the physical infrastructure protection capability. Now we need an ability to merge the sensor data from multiple sources into a knowledge base that allows the monitoring personnel to easily view the entire situational awareness picture. This will entail the development of a command and control suite for use in the other agency operations. Presently there is a developmental gap between the sensor raw data and the full up military system that feeds global command and control networks. This gap is the small software-based command and control system with identification algorithms that can be tailored to the small operational scenario such as embassy protection or border patrol monitoring and be capable of residing on a laptop computer. From a systems engineering viewpoint, this command and control suite could be the key ingredient in the transition of the sensor technologies into the other agency applications. The transition of the sensor technology to numerous other applications can be hastened by the quick development of a C2 suite for use in the present high terrorist threat environment.
Present employment tactics for acoustic sensors in Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) networks bear no resemblance to similar broadband acoustic sensor tactics for anti-submarine warfare. The tactical thought processes for the employment of both networks do not explain the differences even taking into account the variance in speed of sound in water and other environmental factors. The use of sonobouy experience appears to be a valid source of information on which to base tactical theory for acoustic sensor placement in the land warfare scenario. The development of tactical scenarios for land sensor operations requires knowledge of a set of factors parallel to the at sea scenario. Reverberation characteristics of local terrain, foliage attenuation of sound, weather background noise and other environmental issues must be considered in the placement of sensors to maximize effectiveness. Land-based sensors are being deployed in a single formation for both search and for track of targets. Examination of the operational experience of at sea deployment of acoustic sensors can greatly accelerate the deployment success of land-based unattended ground sensors in tactical situations.
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