In the trenchesNew search technology will aid military surveillance
New technology will allow the U.S. military to store far more photographs and video footage than before, as well as software that will give intelligence analysts and troops in the field far greater access to the footage; it will allow intelligence analysts and field commanders to log, edit, and search video archives to find exactly what they are looking for
The U.S. military is about to launch a new technology that it says will dramatically improve the way troops in Afghanistan use massive stores of video surveillance footage collected around the clock in combat zones. Dubbed Valiant Angel, the new capability employs several advances already in use in the civilian world by TV broadcasters and Google. It is made up of a system of computer servers that will allow the military to store far more photographs and video footage than before, as well as software that will give intelligence analysts and troops in the field far greater access to the footage.
Hampton Roads PilotOnline’s Corinne Reilly writes that for years, the United States has used cameras mounted on aircraft and on the ground to collect surveillance for intelligence purposes. As the amount of footage has grown, the military has struggled to sift through and make use of it all.
Officials said Valiant Angel will change that. It will allow intelligence analysts and field commanders to log, edit, and search video archives to find exactly what they are looking for. They will be able to tag clips with keywords and with information about the footage’s time, location and importance.
Reilly writes that they will even be able to draw directly on digital surveillance images and circle key portions, the way television sportscasters mark on-screen stills during games.
All of the information will be saved for later searches. Valiant Angel also condenses digital images so that low-bandwidth users — such as a soldier in a remote province using a laptop and a 56k modem — can access them.
The system is now being tested at a technology experimentation center in Suffolk run by the military’s Joint Forces Command.
It was largely developed by Lockheed Martin and will be sent to Afghanistan soon, said Justin Thurber, operations officer for the Valiant Angel program. Thurber, who is a civilian employee of Joint Forces Command, offered several examples of how the new capability might be used by troops in Afghanistan and other conflict zones.
A unit about to go on patrol could use the system to pull up all surveillance footage taken in the past week along roads they plan to travel. After a homemade bomb attack, soldiers could search video archives for images of the explosion site to determine how and when the bomb was planted.
Analysts could gather footage of all recent bombings to look for trends.
“Gone are the days when we can let data like this fall through the cracks to the cutting room floor, never to be seen or used,” Thurber said. “The whole idea of Valiant Angel is to make the video that we’re already collecting as useful as possible.”
Reilly notes that the system also will allow field commanders and analysts to sign up to receive automatic alerts when new footage that matches their interests enters the system. “If all you care about is your 30-block piece of the war, you can look only at that footage,” Thurber said.
He added that the software is easy enough to use that anyone familiar with computers and the Internet should be able to pick it up quickly and without much training.
Air Force Col. George Krakie, who is the deputy intelligence director at Joint Forces Command, said the new system was developed at the request of leaders at U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. They wanted a quick, practical way to get surveillance footage to as many field troops as possible, without requiring them to carry any new equipment.
Krakie said he thinks the project will soon have achieved that goal. By summer, officials expect that anyone with access to the military’s computer network in Afghanistan will also have access to Valiant Angel. “It’s going to make a big difference,” Thurber said.
The military signed a $29 million contract to begin working on Valiant Angel with Lockheed last August. Krakie said the reason the project has gotten off the ground so fast is that it includes almost no new technology; most of it is already in use in the commercial sector. “All we did is package it so it fits our environment,” Krakie said.
