DETECTION OF GUERRILLA FORCES IN A JUNGLE ENVIRONMENT

SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS AND RESEARCH ASSOCIATES (SARA), INC. PERSONNEL, UNDER INTERNAL PRIVATE FUNDING HAVE DEVISED AN INNOVATIVE CONCEPT FOR SOLVING THE DIFFICULT PROBLEM OF DETECTING ENEMY FOOT SOLDIERS IN A JUNGLE ENVIRORNMENT. EXPLOITING THE UNIQUE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA OF THE SUB-VERY LOW FREQUENCY (S-VLF) REGION OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM, TOGETHER WITH RECENT ADVANCES IN INTEGRATED ELECTRONICS, SMALL PROCESSORS, AND SIGNAL PROCESSING ALGORITHMS, WE HAVE PERFORMED PRELIMINARY ANALYTICAL CALCULATIONS AND LABORATORY MEASUREMENTS WHICH PROVIDE COLLABORATING EVIDENCE OF THE VIABILITY OF OUR CONCEPT. OUR PROPOSED PASSIVE ELECTROMAGNETIC DETECTION TECHNIQUE IS BASED ON THE INTERACTION OF A TARGET WITH VARIOUS NATURAL ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS AS WELL AS THE DEVELOPMENT AND (TIME-VARYING) DISTRIBUTION OF CHARGES ON THE TARGET. TAKEN TO ITS LOGICAL CONCLUSION, OUR CONCEPT COULD RESULT IN A LOW COST PASSIVE DETECTION SYSTEM COMPOSED PRIMARILY OF OFF-THE-SHELF COMPONENTS, PROVIDING ACCURATE AND DEFINITIVE DETECTION CHARACTERISTICS, AND YET EASILY DEPLOYED BY THE TYPICAL SOLDIER IN THE FIELD. WE ARE PROPOSING A CONSIDERABLE PROGRAM FOR THE PHASE I ACTIVITY; OUR PREVIOUS INVESTMENT IN THIS S-VLF TECHNOLOGY, EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN RESEARCH PROGRAMS, AND ENTHUSIASM MAKE US BELIEVE THAT WE WILL SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THE PHASE I PROGRAM. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - APPLICATIONS OF S-VLF ELECTROMAGNETIC DETECTION SYSTEMS WILL BE PURSUED IN BOTH THE GOVERNMENT AND COMMERCIAL SECTORS. AN ARRAY OF S-VLF DETECTORS MAY BE USED TO EFFECT A PERIMETER INTRUSION ALERT SYSTEM FOR GOVERNMENT INSTALLATIONS. THE S-VLF TECHNOLOGY IS RELATIVELY SIMPLE AND MAY LEAD TO LOW COST, HIGHLY EFFECTIVE COMMERCIAL SECURITY ALERT DEVICES.