Angel Fire
From OnAirpower.org
Angel Fire is US reconnaissance system designed to provide "Wide Area Persistent Imaging of City Sized Areas"[1].
The system uses arrays containing as many as 54 digital cameras with 11-megapixel resolution each to collect images at 0.5 meter ground resolution. It "georectifies these images and can send them to anywhere from one to several hundred users in real time using commercial wireless data links" with TiVo-like capability to rewind the imagery and playback past events[1].
The project was sponsored by the US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) with support from the US Central Command (USCENTCOM)[1]. It began development in 2005 as a joint effort between the Air Force Institute of Technology and the Los Alamos National Laboratories[2]. The Air Force Institute of Technology's Graduate School of Engineering & Management contirbuted involvement from four faculty members and more than forty graduate students. Within the first six months of project development, two flyable prototype systems were developed[1] with initial testing conducted by Spring 2006[2]. The Marine Corps issued a request to field the system as quickly as possible in September, 2006. In December 2006, $20 million in funding for Angel Fire was approved by the Joint IED Defeat Organization, and by March, 2007 the system was being tested in Iraq. Appropriations for the system increased from $5.5 million in 2006 to $55 milltion in 2007[2].
[edit] Sources
- Spy Technology Caught in Turf Battle at USA Today (October 2, 2007)
- Angel Fire News (October 3, 2007)
- Constant Hawk Versus Angel Fire Deathmatch (October 12, 2007)
