Expendable Local Area Sensors in a Tactically Interconnected Cluster (ELASTIC)

Providing situational awareness to ground-based personnel in tactical scenarios is a challenging problem. This proposal provides a plan for developing a ballistically deployed wireless imaging sensor with networking capabilities. Our solution addresses all aspects of the problem from the imaging system itself to deployment strategies. For this effort, we will incorporate hardware and software as well as general experience obtained from a 3rd generation wireless camera system developed at The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Similarly, although our team will initially rely on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) transceiver hardware, our plan is to eventually integrate a custom ASIC being developed for the JPL Mars Technology Program. In particular, the custom transceiver has capabilities that are well suited to this effort including low power operation, small size, and asymmetric data rates on the uplink and downlink. For packaging, we will leverage Toyon's experience with antenna and receiver development for a guidance integrated fuse used on ballistically fired munitions. Our work will utilize Toyon's experience with custom antenna design and packaging. Both Toyon and JPL have significant experience with wireless communications and networking to ensure a successful design.