BATTLEFIELD DIGITAL FORENSICS

Figure 22. Smart Dust sensor 58 .
In addition to collecting information before the special operation, they could be used to transfer, at least, small
amounts of captured data out from the target site. WSNs are useful in simple monitoring applications requiring
low data transfer rates. They operate with low power consumption in order to prolong the monitoring function
as much as possible. Although there are efforts to increase the data transfer rates, these rates do not exceed 2
Mbps [49]. In the battlefield digital forensics case of this study, as the area is not very wide and the SOF
operators can locate network devices with appropriate batteries during the operation, establishing IEEE 802.11
WLAN with high data transfer rates is more feasible. It can be argued that WSNs can continue to operate after
the completion of the mission and would be able to transfer data for a long time due to their low power
consumption. However, as the area belongs to the enemy and the SOF operators only have control of the area
for a limited time, it is highly probable that the enemy would find and destroy the network infrastructure
within a short time after the operation. The characteristics of the operational environment thus do not allow
WSNs to use their advantage of low power consumption.
9.7 General Overview of Alternatives
Based on the already existing communication technologies, it may be possible to setup a system (or several
systems) for transferring data out from the target site during and after the operation. As discussed, establishing
a temporary WLAN only enables data to be collected during the operation. The creation of a communication
channel via satellite which can remain after the operation has been described as an alternative to a temporary
WLAN; however, the temporary WLAN enables the collection of much more data due to the high data transfer
rates provided by local area networks. Moreover, all the devices of the network infrastructure can be removed
from the theatre during the operation, which may be significant for covert operations. Although both
alternatives enable some amount of forensics data to be obtained from the site, even the best alternative
cannot transfer all the data from an ordinary user computer. Therefore, determining specific search patterns
and finding the relevant data in the digital devices is vital in this case of study.
58 Photo by Daeyeon Kim: http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/7520.
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