Special equipment in the service of the military
Modern warfare is characterized by high dynamics of action and the extremely widespread use of special operations forces. The task of timely detection and accurate classification of the enemy's moving ground (underground) objects is one of the priorities for the combat security forces and while ensuring reliable security of land borders. Today, solving this problem with a high degree of efficiency is no longer possible without the use of special equipment, including seismic sensors.
The power structures of many countries have been using special equipment for a long time. But until now, the problem of detecting the very fact of the presence of a moving object with the help of seismic sensors, determining with a high degree of accuracy the coordinates of the target, the direction and speed of its movement, and also, more importantly, its classification, has not been solved at the proper level. Only after solving these mini-tasks, we can talk about an effective system for detecting and issuing target designation to means of fire destruction or to duty groups.
The Israeli company Spider Technologies Security has offered one of the most interesting solutions. This is the Tarantula perimeter protection system, the core of which is various seismic sensors and powerful computing devices that use special algorithms for processing the received information and issuing target movement elements, as well as generating target designation data for their fire weapons. Today the system is being tested and has already aroused great interest among specialists from the Israel Defense Ministry and the US Department of Homeland Security. This information was recently published in foreign specialized media.
As a means of detection, small-sized autonomous three-coordinate highly sensitive seismic sensors are used, buried in the ground, capable of detecting moving objects: personnel, vehicles and armored vehicles of the enemy, as well as establishing the fact and nature of earthworks being carried out. Representatives of the developer company say that the detection range of these sensors is twice the range of all similar devices on the world market. According to the results of field tests, according to Spider Technologies Security, the range of confident detection of a person walking at a calm pace is 30 meters, a car - at least 100, heavy vehicles or armored vehicles - at least 300 meters. It was possible to achieve high accuracy of target classification and determination of its coordinates with an error of no more than five meters.
The main unit of the Tarantula detection loop is the SpiderTech Sensor (STS) seismic device, which is the know-how of an Israeli company. It is a cylinder 140 mm in height, 105 mm in diameter and 2.5 kg in weight, structurally consisting of three pairs of seismic sensors that provide "intersection" of seismic vibrations of the target, as well as an integrated processor that processes the received signals and forms the three-coordinate "position" of the target. The devices are capable of operating in conditions of increased humidity, up to 100%, and do not lose functionality at temperatures from -20 to + 80 ° С.
During the tests, the seismic devices were installed at a depth of 50 centimeters (this is the minimum depth - if necessary, installation at a greater depth is possible), at a distance of 40 meters from each other, forming a kind of network or cobweb controlled by one computing center (combat post). Each such post is capable of controlling up to two hundred devices, while up to 200 such mini-webs can be connected to a single control center, which will allow creating a seismic perimeter security system, in which up to 40 thousand seismic devices will be involved. The presence of its own mini-computer in each such device makes it possible to speed up the processing of information arriving at the combat post and to avoid the "overload" of the data exchange line.
Tarantula tests are carried out in an environment as close as possible to combat, in various geographic and climatic conditions, in various types of soil. According to experts familiar with the results of individual stages of testing, the new system, with the elimination of certain minor shortcomings, makes it possible to speak of the emergence of a fundamentally new class of perimeter security system with a very high practical potential.
In particular, according to representatives of the US Department of Homeland Security, this seismic web can provide tangible assistance in detecting work on the construction of underground tunnels on the border with the United States (meaning the American-Mexican border) or to ensure perimeter protection in the protected areas of military bases and camps. in areas of hostilities.
It is clear from the statements of experts and officials that the Americans were particularly impressed by the high sensitivity of the seismic sensors developed by Israeli specialists, capable of detecting in a given radius the slightest movement of people in underground tunnels, as well as the ability of the system with a high degree of probability to distinguish seismic noise of artificial (enemy) and natural (nature) origin. …
Special algorithms make it possible to automatically cut off, if necessary, individual unwanted noises of artificial origin, for example, noise located in a protected area of an airport, highway or railway. The relatively low cost of the system - about $ 100 per meter of protected perimeter - makes Tarantula very attractive for the military and border services, as well as for private military companies and security units of industrial corporations. Such a system will be useful for Israel itself, which for many years has had a "headache" in the form of many kilometers of borders with the Arab states - Egypt and Jordan, as well as with "rebel territories" - for example, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
There is an obvious intellectualization of security systems, while in Russia they still rely mainly on mass character: a large number of law enforcement officers carrying out standard patrolling. But a similar, based on seismic sensors, railroad track protection system was developed several years ago and proposed to be put into service by the specialists of the Research Institute of the Railway Troops of the Russian Armed Forces. The system includes small-sized autonomous seismic sensors installed along the railway track at a certain interval from each other and transmitting information either to the central control and monitoring station, or to mobile or portable control stations. The slightest attempt to "dig" the canvas and install a subversive charge there would immediately be displayed as an alarm on the attendant's console and there would be no incidents with the "Nevsky Express".
