Enhanced Image Capture and Transfer Capability

An increasingly essential requirement of today's military is the timely acquisition and distribution of intelligence information from remote locations. The value of this information for applications such as target identification, force protection, and intelligence gathering can be greatly enhanced if it is augmented by the use of imagery. Emerging technologies in image capture, data networking, and image processing can be leveraged to provide a flexible, scalable network of image capture nodes that could gather imagery based on operator commands, predetermined timers, or triggered via infrared motion sensors, seismic/acoustic sensors, or imagery motion processing. Key features of the individual nodes are small size, low cost, and low power consumption (for long lifetimes). These capabilities would allow the units to be disposable, and either hand-emplaced or dropped from manned or unmanned aircraft. This effort will also devise mechanisms for sensor air-drop survivability, geo-location, and orientation.