Wearable sensors to "improve" soldier reports
Wearable sensors, including cameras and audio
pick-ups, are supposed to enhance the soldier's "situational awareness" and
after-action reports.
A soldier’s after-action mission report can sometimes leave out vital observations and experiences that could be valuable in planning future operations. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is exploring the use of soldier-worn sensors and recorders to augment a soldier’s recall and reporting capability.
More of the Pentagon’s search for the perfect robot soldier. Or at least one who cooperates like a robot.
This week NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology] is testing five different sensor systems at the United States Army Aberdeen Test Center in Aberdeen, Md. The tests, ending May 12, involve sensor-clad soldiers on unscripted foot patrol through simulated Iraqi villages populated with “bystanders,” “shopkeepers,” and “insurgents.” The sensors are expected to capture, classify and store such data as the sound of acceleration and deceleration of vehicles, images of people (including suspicious movements that might not be seen by the soldiers), speech and specific types of weapon fire.
A capacity to give GPS locations, an ability to translate Arabic signs and text into English, as well as on-command video recording also are being demonstrated in Aberdeen. Sensor system software is expected to extract keywords and create an indexed multimedia representation of information collected by different soldiers. For comparison purposes, the soldiers wearing the sensors will make an after-action report based on memory and then supplement that after-action report with information learned from the sensor data.
Isn’t it neat and compelling how our military is gearing up for more foreign wars? I think we should rid ourselves of outdated Cold War hype and return to calling it the War Department instead of the Department of Defense.
Posted: Mon - May 15, 2006 at 08:35 AM