Border Protector Michael J. Fisher - KMI Media Group

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24 | BCD 1.1 maintaining suRveillanCe oveR RuRal anD uRBan teRRain. By HenRy CanaDay BCD CoRResponDent www.BCD-kmi.com
The Department of Homeland Security hopes to make two to three firm-fixed-price awards for demonstration of a wide area aerial surveillance system (WAASS). WAASS’s primary objective is persistent, long-term surveillance of urban and rural terrain of at least 16 square kilometers. John Appleby, WAASS program manager at DHS, said that separate firms may supply competitive applications, and these may apply to both land and marine surveillance, although the priority is land surveillance. “They may overlap or one may be land and one may be marine.” After award, DHS will field-test applications, perhaps in several phases. “This is an operational test, not developmental,” Appleby emphasized. Then DHS would “socialize” the applications with important units, such as Customs and <strong>Border</strong> Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). Important criteria for selection include quality of technology and ease of adaptation. “It must be easy to insert into our data management system, which is already in place,” Appleby stressed. “Level of effort for fielding is also important, as DHS wants to field WAASS soon. We do not want something that will take four to five years. We want operation in a year or two, something good but not a Cadillac, and then we can improve it in the future.” Cost is also important, so using military or off-theshelf components would be helpful. The military uses large and high-definition images, which require huge databases and data-transmission capabilities. “They have lots of people to do quick-turnaround analytics,” Appleby noted. “We are constrained by budgets and do not have as many people.” DHS also wants to do forensic analysis, analyzing images after capture. “So it would help if there is automated software and streamlined data management.” DHS hoped to issue the request for proposal in mid-May 2012 and award contracts by late summer or early fall. “There is lots of pressure to get it fielded in a year or two, so we will tend to look at mature technologies, already used by other agencies or at a high level of reliability,” Appleby said. “We are hoping it will not cost many millions.” There will be no set-aside for small business as there are already so many other parameters. WAASS must integrate with current DHS capabilities, including USCG capabilities and DHS cameras and imagers on poles. “It might cue these sensors,” Appleby said. WAASS will look for illegal intrusions by humans, vehicles and other equipment, detecting these and helping DHS decide if intrusions require response or cueing other sensors. A demonstration was done with a team led by Logos Technologies and including L-3 Communications, which detected and helped send back a thousand illegal immigrants in one week. www.BCD-kmi.com BCD 1.1 | 25
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Border Protector Michael J. Fisher - KMI Media Group

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