Facebook and Flashmobs: New challenges in perimeter protection

Mark A. Clifton

From the Palestinian protesters making incursions on the Israel-Lebanon border, to North Africa’s Arab Spring, a new generation of networked consumer technologies is upping the ante in perimeter protection.

Ubiquitous wireless networks, social networking, smart phone apps, GPS and Skype are empowering civilians with capabilities once reserved for military and law enforcement. The new consumer technologies portend a grim new era of smart terrorism and smart crime, greatly expanding hazards at the perimeter. Fortunately, the new security technology is rising to meet the challenge.

Beware the smart terrorist

This new era empowers insurgents and confronts planners with two severe perimeter security challenges:

Enhanced ability to muster perimeter attacks -- Even a simple cellphone provides an opponent with cheap, effective communications. Social networking compounds the challenge. The same technology that enabled Flashmob demonstrations in Tahrir Square can also be used to assemble provocations, diversions, incursions and attacks.

Enhanced command-and-control of perimeter attacks -- Few devices empower asymmetrical warfare like the smart phone. Now, everyone can exploit advantages, such as precise GPS coordinates, high-resolution mapping, geo-tagging, instant access to Web resources and real-time video streaming, from anywhere on the mobile network.

Countering the threat

Smarter attacks challenge military and law enforcement to counter with ever-smarter perimeter protection. Recent advances in Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance from SRI International Sarnoff can make a difference.

Better situational awareness -- Countering the rapid deployment of perimeter attacks requires faster integration of multiple sensor and video feeds into actionable intelligence. A new generation of Common Operating Pictures (COPs) can display real-time multi-sensor data in a unified, three-dimensional environment. For example, multiple real-time video feeds can be draped on a 3D world that the operator can maneuver through, videogame style. This is the vision behind the TerraSight video exploitation system. The U.S. Army uses this system to protect forward operating bases, supply routes and critical infrastructure. The Army has deployed more than 300 TerraSight stations in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation New Dawn. Interest in the system is growing. The same technology may soon be applied to border security and homeland infrastructure.

Rapid detection of hidden weapons -- As violent insurgents infiltrate peaceful demonstrations at the perimeter, friendly forces are under unprecedented pressure to identify concealed weapons. Long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) imagery can reveal that a particular demonstrator is carrying a hidden weapon. But only visible light can tell you that it is the guy in the red jacket. The challenge is to fuse LWIR and visible light into a single, actionable view.

A pair of cameras will have two slightly different points of view. This means parallax errors -- distracting ghosts and halos in the fused image. Conventional attempts to correct parallax errors tend to fail as soon as the camera platform moves. A unique solution from SRI Sarnoff represents the “holy grail” of fused imagery: parallax-free viewing, even from a moving platform. The VerifIR hybrid fusion sensor eliminates parallax by design.  The system images body armor, weapons and buried roadside and person-borne IEDs. It enables users to track threats as subjects wander in crowds or hide in vegetation and alleys. The VerifIR system has been honored by ASIS and won as best new Advanced Imaging and Surveillance product at ISC West.

Stable imagery from pole-mounted and vehicle-mounted cameras -- Conventional image stabilization is bulky, AC-powered and confined to your control room. In contrast, the Acadia ILS-6000 is a ruggedized, weatherized, DC-powered unit that consumes just 2.5 watts. It is ready to mount at the camera position, from desert heat to rain to snow.

Smarter use of scarce bandwidth -- You can counter video-enabled insurgents with video-enabled soldiers. However, your ability to deliver real-time video streams is always limited by bandwidth scarcity. An SRI Sarnoff solution called Salience-Based Compression reserves precious bandwidth for the most important parts of the image, which appear at maximum resolution. The resolution of non-essential areas is reduced, for a bandwidth savings of up to 97.5 percent. 

Smarter mobility -- Perhaps the most powerful response to Facebook and Flashmobs is the rapidly mobile asset. The TerraScout vehicle system combines an entire suite of SRI Sarnoff image processing technology to empower your motorized force with unprecedented situational awareness. The vehicle sensors extend your ability to detect, track, image and record groups of walking and crawling people in bright sun, dark moonless nights and heavy rain.

Greater security “inside the wire” -- Newly empowered by advanced technology, insurgents can be emboldened to enter your bases. A new solution uses advanced biometrics to identify and pass authorized personnel, enabling your guards to concentrate attention where it is needed most. Long admired for high accuracy, iris recognition has been held back by a long list of constraints. It is time consuming. It requires each person to stand close -- and stand still. It doesn’t always work with eyeglasses, contact lenses and most especially with sunglasses. The Iris on the Move system uses advanced near infrared technology to overcome all these obstacles, making iris recognition more practical than ever.

Facebook and Flashmobs have created unprecedented risks at the perimeter. We predict that security planners will increasingly fight back with even more advanced perimeter protection.