UAV data analysis remains daunting challenge
- By Defense Systems Staff
- Feb 13, 2012
The Air Force has upwards of 70,000 persons working to process all the data and footage it is gathering from unmanned aerial vehicles in an effort to detect patterns worth exploiting in the pursuit of insurgents in Afghanistan and other global hot spots, reports Kashmir Hill at Forbes.
The number, which was provided by Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Lt. Gen. Larry James at the AUVSI conference in Washington Feb. 7-9, is presented in the article as one of 10 facts worth knowing about UAVs used in homeland security and military operations.
One major development in UAV capability worth noting is that Air Force plans to expand the surveillance capability of its wide-angle, Gorgon Stare sensor deployed on the Reaper UAV from a 4 kilometer by 4 kilometer area to a 10 kilometer by 10 kilometer area, James said at the conference.
As for the data overload, the military is hoping that more sophisticated computer algorithms and improved software analysis can be developed to process UAV data, the story states. The task is so daunting that think tank Rand has said it really requires 100,000 people to handle the existing task, the story said.