Adaptable Ruggedized Ground-Based Unmanned Sensor System

To address the Army’s need for environmentally hardened sensor nodes that persistently monitor radio frequency (RF), weather conditions, and personnel access of remote islands leased on the Kwajalein Atoll for the U.S. Army’s Reagan Test Site (RTS), Intellisense Systems, Inc. (Intellisense) proposes to develop a new Adaptable Ruggedized Ground-Based Unmanned Sensor (ARGUS) System. ARGUS is an extremely adaptable, compact, low-cost, and rugged networked Internet of Things–based sensor solution that can provide situational awareness in any environment on earth through deployment of high-density, low-cost sensor nodes. Backhaul gateways interface with multiple nodes and aggregate data while providing additional processing capability and remote wireless transmission. Specifically, the environmentally hardened sensor nodes include low-power infrared (IR) personnel detection and narrow-band persistent RF sensing. A network of these sensor nodes with various RF sensing bands can form a full personnel detection “perimeter” and cover the full RF spectrum of interest while operating continuously from solar power for years with no required maintenance. Upon detection of a signal above a defined threshold (either RF or IR detection), the sensor node wirelessly transmits the acquired data to a local gateway. This gateway includes Intellisense-mature ruggedized weather sensing capability, 360-degree high-resolution day and nighttime imagery, and embedded computing resources capable of running artificial intelligence/machine learning models on the edge. Upon receipt of node IR alert data, the gateway processes the RF and/or image data and transmits alerts via satellite communications to the RTS Mission Control Center for further review.  In Phase I, Intellisense will create a comprehensive requirements matrix and system architecture prior to development and selection of all appropriate sensing and processing solutions. We will then demonstrate the feasibility of ARGUS through a combination of laboratory testing and engineering analysis. Output from Phase I will include documented studies and designs with a complete detailed design description including benefits and deficiencies of each subsystem documented for system improvement and refinement in Phase II. In Phase II, Intellisense plans to produce a functional prototype of a full sensor network including nodes and a gateway capable of monitoring for personnel, RF, and weather, demonstrating remote power supply performance, and wirelessly transmitting the results to a custom graphical user interface in preparation for qualification testing and transition to production in future phases.