Networked unattended ground sensors: The road ahead

With its focus on the Future Combat Systems (FCS), the U.S. Army has embarked on an important campaign to field a lighter force, capable of being deployed in a fraction of the time currently required. The survivability of this force, however, will be based more heavily on the use of integrated command and control capabilities with unsurpassed situational understanding for all levels of commanders. Arrays of small, low cost, low power sensors will play a key role in detecting, locating, tracking and identifying targets, particularly in areas where the terrain or other circumstances prevent traditional high performance sensors from providing critical information. There has been, and continues to be, a number of DoD programs aimed at fielding Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS). While much of the underpinning technology exists to field such systems, many technology and operational barriers still remain. This paper will attempt to discuss the challenges to overcoming these barriers.