Microsurveillance of the Urban Battlefield

Abstract : It is widely agreed that urban military operations demand greater 'situational awareness' than now exists. Soldiers need mapping tools to tell them where they are, real time information on what's around the corner and behind walls as well as reliable data links to receive and send orders and intelligence. At the same time, commanders need accurate knowledge of 'what's happening' in the city as a whole. Progress in microelectronics and computing is so rapid that we can begin to think about a system which blankets the urban banlefield with cheap, small imaging sensors, collects all the data via a high-bandwidth communication network, converts the data flood to useful intelligence and displays information in a useful way to a wide range of users. In this study, we examine whether this vision of an urban battlefield situational awareness system survives confrontation with technological and physical reality. We conclude, with some reservations, that it does and propose some near-term demonstrations that should help in giving the vision more precise definition.