In President Bush’s speech on border security (FAQ) last night, he proposed increasing the number of Border Patrol agents from a current level of 12,000 to 18,000 by the end of 2008. New technologies would be incorporated along the Southern border with Mexico.
The Office of Border Patrol (OBP), within the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), is the primary federal law enforcement organization responsible for detecting and preventing illegal aliens, terrorists, and contraband from entering the United States between official ports of entry (POEs), explains Global Security.
The Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System (ISIS) combines detection and data to improve border security. The America’s Shield Initiative installed surveillance and sensory systems. There are three parts to America’s Shield;
- The Remote Video Surveillance System. Integrates multiple video and thermal images into a single remote control system. There are 269 RVS installations across the United States in cities such as Buffalo, N.Y.; Detroit, Mich.; Miami, Fla.; and San Diego, Calif.
- The Sensor System. Includes radar, seismic, motion, magnetic, and heat detectors. These sensors, according to CBP, are mostly Vietnam-era sensors. There are 11,938 sensors installed in cities such as Yuma, Ariz.; Grand Forks, N.D., and Buffalo, N.Y..
- The Intelligent Computer-Assisted Detection System. An alarm and dispatch system that reports ground sensor activations, and monitors and analyzes that information.
DHS’s Secure Border Initiative (SBI) is a broad multi-year initiative that looks at all aspects of the problem across the board – deterrence, detection, apprehension, detention, and removal.
SBInet is intended to detect, identify and classify, respond to, and resolve illegal migration situations with the appropriate law enforcement. The DHS goal is to award a solutions based integrator contract by the end of this fiscal year.
SBI is envisioned as a five-year, multibillion-dollar program to deploy more personnel, new technologies and better infrastructure on both the northern and southern borders. DHS has said it expects to award contracts for SBI technologies in fiscal 2006 with deployment in fiscal 2007.
The Senate voted April 26 to move $2 billion for spending on border security, including $600 million for Coast Guard acquisition and $790 million for recapitalizing the Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine division, from the Bush administration’s roughly $68 billion military supplemental request.
Panoramic cameras like iMove (left), Immersive Media, Panoscan, FLIR and Pyramid Vision, are being fused with ground sensors that detect vibration, sound, heat and other signals. Here’s a 926 Meg Panoscan with a 100-1 virtual zoom. If $35,000 taxpayer dollars is too steep, a few $350 Kodak WiFi cameras might do the same thing, more reliably. 3D Photography (right), may be another option.
A MITRE team is working with the Border Patrol on a long-term effort to produce an upgraded technological and business infrastructure for the agency. BorderNet is an ESRI based application that incorporates real-time mapping software and geo-location algorithms to provide a dynamic and accurate view.
New technologies such as Lockheed’s big blimp (above) can track people up to 200 miles away. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles such as the Silver Fox (below) from Advanced Ceramics Research in Tucson, Arizona, may be drafted.
Pictometry is the world leader in digital, oblique aerial imaging. Because of their oblique nature, images do not require advanced photo-interpretation skills. It is integrated into Microsoft’s Virtual Earth. LPA Systems has a library of plug-ins for hyper-spectral exploitation.
Microsoft’s MapCruncher allow users to take existing maps and aerial photographs, overlaying them with fused data to create imagery for specific needs. Also handy for GPS-driven border crossings using Sony’s ultracompact UX50.
Other DailyWireless stories include, UAVs Expand Role, 24hr UAV Coverage, WiFi ID Tracking, Mobile Satellite Access, Battle Blimps, Stratellite Sold, Gigapixel Imaging, 360 Degree Surveillence, How To Spend Your Homeland Security Check, Plasma Antennas, Tagging Photos with GPS, 19″ Earthbook, Map Space, Mapping Cell Towers, Transportation’s Big Show, Skyhook Locates by WiFi, Panoramic EventCam, Wireless 360 Video and Olympics Unwired.
[...] As vice president and director for Science Applications International Corp.’s (SAIC) Center for Intelligent Robotics and Unmanned Systems (CIRUS) in Colorado, Blitch established the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) on September 1, 2001. After the WTC attacks, Blitch donated more than $20,000 of his savings for support equipment, and for the rescue teams’ travel and expenses. He also contributed funds to the American Association of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and RoboCup Rescue robot competitions to encourage researchers in the field. [...]
Left by dailywireless.org » Mountain Rescue UAVs on December 13th, 2006