Nasty, condescending article in The Register (UK), but some interesting information within.
American border guards will soon deploy 98-foot-tall radar surveillance masts with built-in wireless networking in a bid to prevent those attempting to enter the US illegally. Boeing, prime contractor for the Secure Border Initiative (SBI), recently announced a successful test of the first "integrated mobile sensor tower".
According to SBI Monthly, the towers will provide information to the Common Operating Picture, or COP, a networked computer map showing where the intruders are.
SBI Monthly lays out a typical scenario showing how COP works:
A group of individuals has just entered the US illegally and is on foot. As they make their way across the desert, they are picked up on radar...A Sector Enforcement Specialist identifies the location...[and] zooms in to get a visual on what triggered the radar. The Specialist then notifies Border Patrol Agents in the vicinity through voice communications. The responding Agent is then relayed the coordinates of the illegal aliens to their Mobile COP, displayed on their laptop computer mounted in their vehicle...the Agent goes to intercept...Moments later, the Agent locates the illegal aliens and makes the apprehensions.
Assuming flat desert terrain, a 98-foot mast will have line of sight range out to approximately 12 miles, so each tower could sweep a circle of territory 24 miles across. The US' southern border is a smidgeon under 2,000 miles long.
Govexec.com reports that the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general estimates the final cost of SBI at $8bn to $30bn, though Boeing has no contracts of that magnitude just yet. |