Head-Mounted and Wrist-Mounted SOF Tactical Information Displays

The U.S. military is being called upon increasingly to address the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by third-world countries, particularly as applied to facilities which have been located in hardened and deeply buried installations,thereby making their identification difficult. Recognizing that passive detection of combined acoustic, seismic, and electromagnetic signatures from these facilities is a promising resolution to the challenge, SARA proposes to develop a passive sensorunit combining the three technologies into one; an array of these sensors would then be scattered around a suspected area for monitoring. Unlike fielded-sensor arrays in which individual units report to a common location (base station), our approach is aunique self-networking concept in which the units inter-communicate and corroborate suspected activity. This approach reduces base-station communication and sensor power consumption. SARA's Phase I effort addresses each of the three preeminent challengesconfronting a self-networking multi-sensor array: 1) Determining the number needed to scope reasonable field range; 2) Right-sizing sensor for hand-emplacement or air drop; 3) Demonstrating a functional self-networking methodology. Phase I will showconfidently an attractive tactical sensor-array concept and the design and integration skills that promise a successful Phase II demonstration.This technology will be of interest to organizations requiring underground-facility information from remote locations for the performance of their responsibilities. This would include US Army and US Marine special ops, infantry, artillery forwardobservers, and intelligence, and an assortment of government/private agencies responsible for law enforcement, such as border surveillance of suspected underground tunnels (alien and drug interdiction), prison-escape monitoring, and underground intrusiondetection.