A roadmap to truly disposable unattended ground sensor (UGS) systems

Abstract

In the last two decades, research by McQ Inc. and others has led to substantial advances in the performance of unattended ground sensor (UGS) systems. These advancements include: extremely long battery life; small, robust packaging; high performance detection and classification algorithms; multimodal, multispectral sensors; long range communications; air droppable delivery; fully integrated sensor management; multi-sensor situational awareness and data fusion; advanced video detection and optical sensor development; and others. This research has demonstrated that there is a great deal that existing technology can do to solve users' intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) requirements using UGS sensors. However, in spite of these advances, UGS systems have not enjoyed widespread use in either DoD, DHS or with law enforcement agencies (LEA). Although requirements differ from agency to agency and application to application, the primary factor that limits more widespread use of UGS systems is cost. Cost determines how many sensors an agency can buy and how they are used operationally. Only when sensors cost $100 or less will they be considered truly disposable. The focus of this paper is to present the technical considerations and a roadmap for producing truly low cost UGS sensors. Achieving this goal will then create within the DoD, DHS, LEA and other communities' requirements for UGS systems intended for a wide variety of uses that were never seriously considered previously because of cost. The implications are significant and will lead to an explosion in the number of UGS systems made and used on an annual basis.