An Israeli firm is pursuing the development of an array of ground sensors designed to be mobile for protecting troops on the go, a company representative said at the Association of the United States Army exposition in Washington this week.
Elkana Pressler, marketing and sales director for Spider Technologies Security Ltd., said the mobile array would evolve from a perimeter security system the firm has developed and already deployed in a pilot program with the Israeli government to guard settlements in the West Bank.
The small, linked ground-based sensors can be installed along borders or to provide security at airports, he said, touting the seismic system as “brand new.” SpiderTech has partnered with a U.S. company he would not disclose to market the technology in the United States, he said.
The system, called Tarantula, uses its array to detect human movement and relay the information up the digital chain. It detects the presence of a possible security threat and will track any additional movements, Pressler said.
SpiderTech is looking to adapt the technology for use by military units, a capability Pressler said could come online in one to two years. The mobile system would be intended to provide force protection to soldiers on the move. It could be used on a makeshift basis to secure campsites or to guard against ambushes, he said. It takes about 30 minutes to install four sensor units in the ground, Pressler said.
Key to expanding Tarantula for mobile deployments was reducing its energy requirements, he said.