Links
Paging James Cameron - Pentagon wants 3-D surveillance
Think Avatar for military spies. Pentagon far-out research arm Darpa wants to turn surveillance into a 3-D experience for troops. It has launched the Fine Detail Optical Surveillance (FDOS) Program, and are requesting proposals for prototypes of optical imaging systems that would use "advanced high-resolution 3-D imaging technology." Darpa wants two kinds of surveillance systems: portable units for active battle and drone-ready systems for unmanned planes.
The agency wants proposals that start from scratch, using a fundamentally new model for obtaining video footage. The 3-D surveillance should be able to monitor moving targets with high resolution, from different ranges, and without the need for users to do much legwork, like scanning or refocusing on a target. Darpa anticipates that 3-D surveillance would boost field of vision and depth of vision "by over 100X" compared to existing systems.
That's a big step up from the best drone surveillance in use right now. According to Darpa, current spy-cam systems with 3-D capabilities are big and unwieldy, and can only handle a small surveillance zone without user input.