Open Source Geiger Counter for Android?

Bunnie Huang builds open-source geiger counter to help Japanese civilians

from Engadget by Daniel Cooper

Chumby co-creator Andrew "Bunnie" Huang was so moved by the Japanese Earthquake and Fukushima meltdown that he felt compelled to help out. Teaming up with nonprofit organization Safecast, he started work on a radiation monitor that was suitable for everyday civilian use, rather than it remain the sole province of officials. As well as its readings being able to stand up to scientific scrutiny, Huang's counter had to remain functional after a natural disaster, last for ages and be small enough for people to carry around. When he had finished building the reference design, he open-sourced the design so companies like Medcom and individuals could build their own. If you'd like to dabble in the arts of radiation monitoring, head on down to the source link for a fascinating insight into how it's done.

Internet Connection Anywhere Despite Disasters

MATTER OF LIFE & TECH| 19 April 2012

Tethr: Getting online in a crisis

"I'm five years too early with everything. I do not know if that's a bug or a feature, but it is what it is," says Aaron Huslage with a laugh. He's explaining to me how, set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he came up with the idea for tethr, a shoebox-sized of hardware designed to help anyone get internet and phone connections from any spot on the planet.

At the time of the disaster, a group of volunteers Huslage helped build a working wireless network from Gulfport, Mississippi, to the Louisiana border. Using donated equipment, expertise and time, the group managed to create a network that provided free internet and phone service to between 70.000 and 80.000 people for half a year following the hurricane.

"The whole thing was crazy," he remembers. "We were building infrastructure, and I remember thinking, 'This is really, really hard stuff.'" Networks could include servers, routers and various multiple layers of software to configure. He started considering ways he might be able to miniaturize the hardware needed to make connectivity possible investigation. But the hardware, he discovered, did not really exist, or at least into forms small enough to work together efficiently, and affordably, in one small package. "So, I shelved the idea," he tells me.

It was in the aftermath of Haiti earth quake, when Huslage was doing some volunteer work helping to build wireless mesh networks with a group called Inveneo , that he was once again struck by how far the hardware lagged behind the software when it came to assisting in post- -crisis situations. "It's great to have great software," says Huslage. "Ushahidi and Open Street Map, all that stuff can change the world," he tells me. "But it is all useless if the hardware can not get the users connected." Aid groups need to share information quickly in a crisis and assistance to Ensure aid is distributed as effectively as possible. But too many times, he says, he saw Humanitarian groups take nothing but a computer and a satellite modem into a crisis area, only to be hampered by poor connections and a lack of knowledge about how the technology works.

"Aid workers and first responders, they're being asked to do IT," he says."But they do not want to have to worry about that stuff."

There are organizations dedicated to helping out in these situations but limited resources means they can not go to every crisis and help out every aid group that has communication problems. So Huslage started looking around, pricing different pieces of gear, and found that hardware had shrunk, both in size and price, and the tools he needed were available off the shelf.

And so after, getting laid off from his day job, last January ("Actually, I laid myself off," Huslage jokes), he decided to work full-time on the development of "tethr". What he and his team have come up with is a package of hardware that fits into a case about 6in-long, 4in-wide and 3 in tall (15cmx10cmx7.5cm). It contains the hardware necessary to connect to the net via satellite modem, wi-fi, 3G, Ethernet and even dial-up. It also comes with OpenBTS , an open-source GSM messaging box and platform. This prototype runs with a version of the open-source operating system Ubuntu Linux. The software could be tailored to any situation, but right now, has it Huslage loaded up with a database, similar to Skype VOIP software, Ushahidi, and Open Street Map. The user interface, Huslage says, is like a webpage, and is designed to allow the user maximum control over what type of connections to use for certain tasks, and thus giving simple instructions on how to, say, point the satellite modem to the right direction.

Huslage says the idea is that people could eventually develop their own software for tethr, and add it to their boxes themselves. Ease of use is what Huslage calls tethr's "secret sauce". "You want to think really hard about how your users would want to use something like this. You do not want to make them do a bunch of technical things they do not want to do, just because you're too lazy to write some code. "

When it comes to powering tethr, Huslage says they are "agnostic about [it] in a religious way." What he means is that he does not want to dictate to users how to power tethr. After all, he says, people want to find themselves in wildly different situations when it comes to available power sources. Currently, it has no built-in battery. The unit runs off of a 12-volt DC connection. "You can plug it into a car battery and it works fine," says Huslage. "And you can almost always find a car battery somewhere." But, Huslage notes there, so's to AC adapter, and there's no reason it could not be modified to run off of a solar battery. He's leaving it up to the users. "If we have a bunch of people asking for a battery, we'll put one in."

I ask him about price. The answer's a bit tricky, because the project is seeking in early stages. Right now, the unit would cost around $ 2,000.But if production got going, Huslage thinks the price a year from now would be more like $ 500, and maybe even as low as $ 100 by year three.The sticking point, though, is getting the same foundations, organizations and investors that rave about software crisis to take a chance on hardware. In a recent blog post on tethr , Erik Hersman, who is one of the people behind the Ushahidi crowd-sourcing software, wrote: "software products are easier to get going, there are lower barriers to entry and people can see and play with them quite quickly Funding of projects like tethr hardware is a little more challenging.."

Product but also says that he feels Hersman tethr fills a real need in post-disaster scenarios, and can find a "ready market" for its. When it comes to hardware, Hersman wrote, "the disaster and crisis response space is ripe for upheaval in this as well We've had some major changes, that many are still getting used to, just based on mobile phones and the internet. - but that's only the beginning. We started to see what can happen when geeks and rebels get into hardware and communications in places like Libya and Brazil. This can only continue to accelerate. "

It helps, of course, that the price and size of the connection hardware is coming down, and that it's easier and cheaper than ever to prototype something. Aaron says Huslage tethr is currently looking for around $ 750,000 in funding. He has also entered into a competition called tethr the Knight News Challenge, as a potential tool for journalists to collect information in the field, and file stories effectively.

Balanced Optical SteadyShot

SONY's Balanced Optical SteadShot 

keeps a 

13-fold better steady view of the ball

Topping Sony’s industry-leading high definition lineupare the video enthusiast-level consumer camcorders, HDR-PJ760V and HDR-CX760V, which capture full HD 24p and 60p recording with 24.1-megapixel still images. A new standout feature is the world’s first* Balanced Optical SteadyShot™ image stabilization which controls the entire optical path, including the image sensor, as one floating unit to improve image stabilization by up to 13 times more stable than its predecessor (when both models are in the standard mode). Balanced Optical SteadyShot stabilization advantages apply to the full zoom range from wide to telephoto, making it much easier to shoot crisp blur-free images in a range of challenging situations. Other new features include Wide Angle (26.0mm) Carl Zeiss® Lens, tilting Electronic View Finder, and 17x extended digital zoom.

The highest-end new models are the Sony Handycam HDR-PJ760V ($1600), Handycam HDR-CX760V ($1500), and Handycam HDR-PJ710V ($1300), each of which feature the floating-lens stabilization system.

Handycam HDR-PJ710V: This is the bottom of the top of the prosumer line, and at $1,299 it's got everything the others do, just with less memory: 32B vs. 96GB, for which you'd pay an extra $300 just to get it baked in. It's got GPS, BOS, 10x wide-angle zoom, EVF...all the bells and whistles Sony offers.

Trimble tumbles for Sketch-Up as Google drops it?

Now this is interesting.... 

Trimble to Enhance its Office-to-Field Platform with the 
Acquisition of Google's SketchUp 3D Modeling Platform

On April 26, 2012, Trimble announced it has entered into a efinitive agreement to acquire SketchUp® from Google. SketchUp is one of the most popular 3D modeling tools in the world. As part of the SketchUp platform, Trimble will also partner with Google on running and developing SketchUp's 3D Warehouse, an online repository where users can find, share, store and collaborate on 3D models.

SketchUp is currently used by millions of users annually—ranging from architects to engineering and construction firms to building and design professionals – for designing, modeling and visualizing projects. The SketchUp product and its vision of "3D modeling for everyone" has allowed modelers worldwide, across a wide range of industries, to express design concepts easily, accurately and efficiently.

Trimble has created the de-facto standard for field data models and project management tools for its key markets. SketchUp and the 3D Warehouse, together with other Trimble Tools from Accubid, HHK, Meridian, Plancal, QuickPen, Tekla, Trimble Business Center and the Trimble Connected Community will provide a stand-alone and enterprise solution that will enable an integrated and seamless workflow to reduce rework and improve productivity for the customer. Users will be able to collect data, design, model, and collaborate on one platform. The combined capability will enhance our ability to extend our existing market applications including the cadastral, heavy civil, and building and construction industries. In addition, the SketchUp platform will enable Trimble, third-party developers and our distribution partners to efficiently develop new applications.

Alternatively....

Trimble Buys SketchUp or Google Dumps SketchUp

from James Fee GIS Blog

So take your pick, is this Trimble making a bold move or Google realizing SketchUp had no place in their portfolio. One more reason to think Google Earth is headed to the land of the walking dead.

This doesn’t change SketchUp’s awesomeness, but I’m wondering what the future holds. Trimble’s press release talks about an “enterprise solution”. The tea leaves say this means that SketchUp will transition away from free and the cheapskates need to pony up. Their FAQ says they’ll continue to support free customers, but I just can’t see that continuing like Google has been doing. A brave new world is upon us, one where Google doesn’t give everything away for free.



Everyone is addicted, but now what? I have to pay my supplier?

SketchUp Is Google’s First Divestment In Years, And It Made A Profit

from TechCrunch by Josh Constine

Google’s sale of a previously purchased arm of the company this morning, 3D modeling software SketchUp, to Trimble, is its first divestment in years, and according to sources the search giant made a profit, as it sold SketchUp for more than it bought it for back in 2006.

This could signal a sea change in how Larry Page executes his vision for a leaner, more focused Google. The company frequently shuts down extraneous products, but that requires redistribution of their team members internally. If it’s now willing to sell them instead, Google could streamline around the theme of making user’s lives more convenient, while making some money at the same time.

It wasn’t that SketchUp wasn’t working. It had 30 million activations since joining Google as part of @Last Software in March 2006. But it just didn’t fit with the direction Google is heading in. It’s a relatively niche product for architects and the construction industry, game developers, and filmmakers. It doesn’t fit with last year’s theme of inherently social product that could be tied to Google+, or this year’s plan to simplify everyone’s lives.

So rather than sink it in the deadpool, Google sold it to someone that can actually put it to use — Trimble, a mapping, surveying, and navigation equipment company. Analysts speculated that Google paid $45 million for SketchUp in 2006. As Trimble called the acquisition of the product “immaterial”, and therefore less than 5% of its annual revenue, it couldn’t have paid more that $90 million for it. That would mean Google could have made up to $45 million in profit on the sale, though its likely closer to a few million.

Early this year Google shut down its photo editor Picnik and open sourced its Android stargazing app Google Sky Map. If the company had to do it again, maybe it’d sell them off instead.

This strategy of divesting successful but outlying products meshes with why we’ve heard Google didn’t buy Instagram. While initially vaguely interested in buying the photo sharing service, we hear Google walked away before talks went past the coffee table stage. That’s because buying Instagram for a high price just to fracture focus by running it independently didn’t align with Page’s game plan.

I often hear that headcount bloat and disorganization in the ballooning Google disgruntles employees and makes them flee for startups. The inefficient bureaucracy, lost transition time , and expensive counter-offers it has to make to get talent to stay are running up costs for Google while slowing it down. While no one wants to see their co-workers shipped out of the Googleplex, it may be wise for Google to sell the meat instead of just trimming the fat.

[Update: The SketchUp sale is not Google's first divestment ever as previously stated, but the first since 2009 when Google sold off some assets of Google Radio Automation to WideOrbit. Alexia's sources familiar with the matter missed the mark on this one.]

[Additional reporting by Alexia Tsotsis and Rip Empson]

How fast is your Smartphone's CAM?

CamSpeed: Camera Benchmark for WP7 and Android

from xda-developers by PoorCollegeGuy

Benchmarks are, whether anyone wants to admit it or not, an important part of the mobile phone world. After all, looking at which devices have the fastest graphics and highest number crunching ability can help factor into the decision of choosing one phone over another. It’s not the end-all be-all, but it’s something to consider.
While processor and GPU are two important features on a smartphone nowadays, another feature that’s increasingly important is the camera. Since photos taken on modern smartphones often rival those taken on low- to mid-range point-and-shoot cameras, it’s only natural to want to compare one device’s camera to the other. Android andWindows Phone 7 users can now do exactly this thanks to XDA Forum Member hulkkii. CamSpeed is a multi-platform camera benchmark that will measure the speed your device’s camera can shoot photos. CamSpeed measures camera speed in a few different ways. To break it down:

Measured variables are
- Focus Time. Time from focus call to successfull focus event.
- Capture Start/Shutter Time. Time from capture call to the moment when the capture sequence has started.
- Capture Image/JPEG Available. Time from capture call to the moment when an image is available.
- Capture Completed. Time from capture call to the moment when the capture sequence is complete.

This is no simple benchmark that simply times how long it takes from hitting the camera button to taking a picture. All of the necessary variables are tested from focus time to capture time. This can not only tell you which devices have the fastest camera, but which devices can focus the fastest and which devices will allow you to look at your pictures the fastest. While it may not seem so important, there is a lot of processor-related instances in these measurements, such as the time from capture call to the moment when the image is available. This can give users a real world example of how the processor handles tasks without using graphics-based benchmarks to determine processor speed.
Of course all the benchmark staples are there, such as uploading your results and comparing them with those obtained by other devices and users. For more information, you can check out the WP7 thread or the Android thread. Keep an eye out though, as hulkkii is promising that this app will also be available for MeeGo users soon as well.

Universe Model 4 U?

Ant vs Bluetooth

Bluetooth 4.0 to Overtake ANT+ in Sport & Fitness Devices

According to a new report by market research firm IMS Research (now a subsidiary of IHS), Bluetooth 4.0 (Bluetooth Smart-Ready) is said to overtake ANT+ technology for wireless connectivity in sport gears by 2016.

“The rapid transition from ‘classic’ Bluetooth to Bluetooth 4.0 in smart phones, combined with native support in Apple’s iOS and the expected inclusion in the upcoming Microsoft Windows 8 platform, is set to drive more sports and fitness monitoring device OEMs to look to Bluetooth Smart to provide connectivity with consumer devices,“ explained Lisa Arrowsmith, senior analyst with IMS Research’s Connectivity Group.

“As a result, Bluetooth Smart is expected to be the most utilized wireless technology in sports and fitness devices shipped in 2016.”

“ANT+ has seen some adoption in cellular handsets, from companies such as Sony Ericsson (which has 15 models supporting ANT) and HTC (which has one model supporting ANT). However, in the coming years Bluetooth Smart-Ready is set to show higher adoption in cellular handsets as a rapid transition from ‘classic’ Bluetooth to Bluetooth Smart Ready occurs”.

The company behind ANT is Dynastream Innovations Inc. Dynastream was established in 1998 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Garmin in December 2006, when the company was acquired for $36 million.

Garmin has kept the company as a separate entity, so ANT can be found today in many products from Nike, Suunto, Polar and others, competing with Garmin devices.

Moreover, the ANT+ alliance, formed in 2007 has developed as an ecosystem based on device interoperability between different brands. In order to grow the market. ANT+ has standardized profiles for fitness, health, cycling and more so that two ANT+ devices from different manufacturers can work seamlessly together and exchange heart rate, speed, distance achieved, etc...

As of September 2010 more than 10 million ANT-enabled products had been shipped.

Laser Binocular

FUSION™ 1600 ARC

Binocular

Fusion 1600 ARC 12x50mm

Binocular Features

• BaK-4 prisms with PC-3® phase corrective coating for superior resolution and clarity
• RainGuard® HD water repellent lens coating
• 100% waterproof
• VDT^TM (Vivid Display Technology) - enhances display readout in all lighting conditions
• Carrying case, battery and neck strap included
• Posi-thread battery door

Rangefinder Features

• 10-1600 yards ranging performance
• ARC (Angle Range Compensation) from -90° to +90°
• Bow Mode - provides line-of-sight, angle, and true horizontal distance from 10-99 yards/meters
• Rifle Mode - provides line-of-sight, angle, and bullet drop/holdover up to 199 inches
• VSI (Variable Sight-In) - allows sight-in distance options of 100, 150, 200, or 300 yards sight-in distance when in RIFLE mode
• Selective Targeting System - Automatic SCAN, BullsEye & Brush modes
• +/- one yard accuracy

Boing-Boing Boeing goes Android!

Boeing to Jump into the Mobile Phone Business April 2012

The Boeing Co. is developing a mobile phone based on the Android operating system that will compete with other manufacturers offering highly secure communication devices, company officials said April 10.

Roger Krone, president of Boeing Network and Space Systems, told reporters in Arlington, Va., that this was probably the first time the aerospace and defense industry giant will offer a communication device designed to use cellular networks.

The company is near the end of the development cycle and getting ready to launch what he called “the Boeing phone” in late 2012, said Brian Palma, vice president of the company’s secure infrastructure group.

Competitors offering similar secure, encrypted devices are charging $15,000 to $20,000 per device and are using proprietary software and hardware, Palma said.

“We are going to drive down towards a lower price point, but … not mass-market price point,” he said referring to iPhones, BlackBerries and other consumer market smartphones.

“We believe that there is significant interest in the defense side as well as the intelligence side and in the commercial world as well,” Palma said.

Boeing sees a larger business trend where employees once went to work to take advantage of information technology because it was far superior to what they had at home. Nowadays, it is the opposite. The consumer products have outstripped the office IT, and they wonder why their work has far less robust computers and phones.

This is why an Android-based system was chosen. The users of these high-end phones want the same ability to use popular applications while knowing that their business communications are secure, Palma said. The company also sees opportunities for the phone in the emergency responder market.

The phone will “give them what they are used to seeing [on consumer market smartphones] and give them the functionality from the security perspective,” Krone added.

“We are all living off this thing,” Krone said while holding up his smartphone. “And we’re not going back. In fact the next one I have is going to be thinner, smaller and have more capability.”

Whether “the Boeing phone” will carry the company’s brand name has not been decided, Krone said. Palma also declined to reveal Boeing’s partners in the program.

Red Hen Systems Walking the Walk

Just when you thought it was safe? I want my 3D Now!

SONY gets Pummeled by HumanEyes and YouTube ignores the message?

3D imaging developer HumanEyes Technologies filed lawsuits asserting that certain Sony cameras, mobile phones, and related software infringe two of its patents on the creation and display of 3D images.

HumanEyes’ U.S. Patent Nos. 6,665,003 and 7,477,284 are based on inventions made at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem by company co-founder Professor Shmuel Peleg and his students, which generate 3D panoramic images by combining portions of multiple images recorded by an ordinary camera. “This discovery makes it possible to bring inexpensive 3D photography to digital cameras and mobile devices and was the basis for founding HumanEyes Technologies,” the company says.

HumanEyes asks the United States International Trade Commission and the United States District Court for the District of Delaware to institute an investigation into Sony’s infringement and to permanently bar Sony from importing the infringing products into the United States —including at least 32 of Sony’s Cyber-shot and DSLR digital camera models and at least 10 Xperia mobile phone models.

6Sight surveys social imaging

by Paul Worthington

THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2012

How we’re making even more 3D video available on YouTube

Last year we kicked off a beta feature that let creators convert YouTube videos into 3D with a click, and since then you’ve converted hundreds of thousands of your videos to 3D. Today we’re expanding the beta to all of you by adding automatic 3D conversion for short-form videos uploaded in 1080p. Meaning, you can select 3D viewing in the Quality settings (click on the gear icon) on the YouTube player, then pop on your 3D glasses and see YouTube in another dimension. Here’s one of our favorites:

How it works

To give you more dimension on 3D, here’s some background how the conversion technology works at YouTube. Since last September we’ve been constantly improving the underlying technology, which now uses several techniques:

• We use a combination of video characteristics such as color, spatial layout and motion to estimate a depth map for each frame of a monoscopic video sequence
• We use machine learning from the growing number of true 3D videos on YouTube to learn video depth characteristics and apply them in depth estimation
• The generated depth map and the original monoscopic frame create a stereo 3D left-right pair, that a stereo display system needs to display a video as 3D

With this broader knowledge of 3D conversion, we then apply cloud computing scalability to make conversion possible across even more videos on YouTube. Breaking up a video into tiny chunks of data and processing them in parallel on Google’s cloud infrastructure lets us process these videos, while still producing the quality you expect.

We’d love to hear your feedback and other 3D features you’d like to see. With 4D, 5D and 6D around the corner there’s lots more we can do!

Deb Mukherjee, technical staff, and Chen Wu, software engineer, recently watched "YouTube Rewind 2011" in 3D!

Traditional of TIGR... rooted in the past

Soldiers Grab More Intel with Web Media Technology

---

http://www.mitre.org/news/digest/advanced_research/04_07/a_assist.html

April 2007



As Corporal Sandy Davis moves through the Iraqi village, he's constantly gathering human intelligence, or HUMINT, thanks to two cameras (one still, one video) plus digital writing paper. Cpl. Davis is learning about the people, their habits, and their relationships with each other. As he moves past the street vendors, he observes the flow of human interaction of every day life—what's normal and what's not.

Cpl. Davis snaps a picture of a strategically located office building with his digital camera, which has automatic image geo-coding. The camera's global positioning system (GPS) captures the building's latitude and longitude coordinates with an accuracy of 3 to 10 meters. When the photo of the building is printed, those coordinates are seen as part of the digital image.




Patrol track and associated video in a report editor. Both map and report media may be annotated.

A little later, Cpl. Davis uses his helmet-mounted video camera to capture images of a group of men that seem out of place. Then he uses the digital pen and writing paper to make notes about what he sees. The high-tech pen is equipped with a camera, infrared light, and computer chip. Every mark on the page is captured digitally and can be replicated as written on a computer screen.

The data-capturing equipment in the above scenario could soon be used by soldiers to improve the collection, processing, and retrieving of intelligence information. In 2004, the Army realized that every soldier could be a sensor because they have the best local situational awareness. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO) set up a program to solicit technology proposals from commercial vendors.

"MITRE participated by acting as an independent technical evaluator during Phase I of the program, called Advanced Soldier Sensor Information Technology [ASSIST]," says Lisa Harper, a principal artificial intelligence engineer in MITRE's Command and Control Center. "We supported the IPTO with initial requirements development and evaluated early prototypes of tools. [See sidebar, "Testing Geo-located Video."] We also prototyped a reporting tool for searching and retrieving data."

Delivering a Bigger Picture

In the field, ASSIST would let soldiers upload their geo-coordinate tracking data and imagery into the Web-based tool so they can write textual reports that are annotated with their photos and videos. "We tested it with soldiers recently returned from Iraq. They said the new reporting tool saved a lot of time compared to manually keying reports into a word processing program," says Harper. "The photos and video are automatically geo-located on a map so that you can see where the media relates to a specific location."

Harper's group developed the prototype's basic application programming interface, its architecture, an initial set of interactive Web page views, and service connections to both photo and video data storage repositories. "We also developed a custom video player that enables users to easily interact with video using a map display, as well as a time slider that enables users to adjust when the video's time is off," says Harper.

After developing the prototype tool, it was transferred to SRA International for further development into an application called Tactical Ground Reporting Networking (TiGRNET), which specifically targets the needs of the U.S. Army. TiGRNET is a Java tool that SRA is building using its own proprietary components.

As a sociocultural sensor, ASSIST uses temporal pattern analysis of location-based multimedia content to answer questions such as: How has the population reacted to our presence and operations in Mosul over the past three months?

Customizing Broadens Usefulness

Harper's group is currently using its experience to develop a Web 2.0 service-oriented architecture, called TAGR, used for sharing location-based multimedia intelligence. Besides the military, potential users include law enforcement agencies and emergency service organizations.

"We believe there is a valuable opportunity to exploit the work we've done with rich Web 2.0 business models," says Harper. "Location-based organizational memory is impossible to maintain with each group creating ad hoc, isolated, and temporary systems. This is particularly the case for tactical organizations that make heavy use of ground-based imagery and other media."

TAGR is a platform designed for customization. The prototype is created from a mix of services such as Google Maps and Google Earth, open source Web development modules, and custom MITRE modules that are "mashable"—as in mashing together. "By developing TAGR, we will demonstrate a process for building loosely connected, adaptable, re-mixable, and easily maintainable systems," says Harper.

And some Practical Field Experience

Testing Geo-located Video

Paul House, a senior software engineer at MITRE in Harper's evaluation group, tested a video camera as he walked to work. House served eight years in the Marine Corps and was able to evaluate a geo-location system from the point of view of a military user. He found that the camera's accuracy would vary and later developed his own set of "Murphy's Laws."

"The geo-locating accuracy is very dependent on your GPS," says House. "When I was using a Garmin navigation device and it received only a couple of satellites, its accuracy was about plus or minus 40 feet. But when it received a dozen satellites, its accuracy was about plus or minus 6 ft or 9 ft. Every once in a while the GPS signal would get lost in the trees. When I looked at my route on the map afterwards, it showed that I wandered out in the middle of the street or walked through some buildings."

Some samples of House's set of "Murphy's Laws" regarding geo-located video:

• The "+/- accuracy" is about 50% accurate.
• Something will go wrong while copying files to the computer or downloading from devices.
• You'll forget to take you lens cap off at least once.
• The absolute most important aspect of this entire system is the GPS time stamp; without it, life isn't nearly as pleasant.

Gas Plume Prediction Systems

Gas ‘Plume’ Detection System to Protect Soldiers, First Responders

from Armed with Science by glenn.selby

The Local-Rapid Evaluation of Atmospheric Conditions uses both weather data and 3D terrain and building information to generate it's wind model. The model display how air flows around terrain and buildings so first responders can have a better idea how to approach or manage a site where an airborne hazard is present. Army Research Laboratory graphic

By John Andrew Hamilton, U.S Army Test and Evaluation Command

A wind monitoring and modeling system being developed by the Army Research Laboratory’s, or ARL, White Sands Missile Range, or WSMR, division could one day protect soldiers and civilians alike from weapons of mass destruction.

The Local-Rapid Evaluation of Atmospheric Conditions, or L-REAC, system is a computerized weather sensor system under development at ARL intended to help predict the flow of gasses and fumes, or “plumes,” produced by things such as gas leaks and chemical weapons.

Being able to identify how an airborne hazard will behave is a vital ability for first responders to have in order for them to know how to approach or evacuate an affected area.

“If you are a dispatch person and you have to direct first responders to the site, you can look at the wind field and see what the safest approach would be,” said Gail Vaucher, a research meteorologist with ARL at WSMR.

There are other systems available that can predict the plume with some accuracy. Such systems use things like wind speed, air pressure, temperature, and humidity in their calculations. But L-REAC system adds a new layer that previous systems didn’t have. Using terrain data, building plans and dimensions, L-REAC can model and display not only the plume, but the actual airflow around buildings and terrain features.

“We decided to utilize the 3D wind field model developed by Doctor Yansen Wang at ARL Headquarters in Adelphi (Md.) because it had the capability to not only render very quickly, but it can look at many different scales,” said Donald Hoock, chief of the Atmospheric Dynamics Branch of ARL at WSMR.

Thanks to this wind flow model, L-REAC can model how wind will flow when it encounters everything from trees and boulders, to buildings and other structures. While not real-time, the model will update regularly depending on the size of the area being observed.

As air flows around things like buildings, pockets of slower moving or even circular flowing air can be generated on the downwind side, while other formations like alleyways can form wind tunnels. Using L-REAC’s modeling capability, a first responder can predict how these wind effects will alter a plume.

Additionally, L-REAC is a scalable system. The system allows a first responder to monitor large areas, or focus in on a specific incident site. The system uses information about weather and terrain to help build its model.

“The models themselves, in order to be appropriate for an area, need to know about the area, what is the terrain and what is the morphology,” said Vaucher.

For urban areas, Vaucher said, this also includes the shape and size of buildings. In the case of established areas, exact data can be input for detailed results. If detailed information isn’t available, the system will accept less-detailed information if the operator is willing to accept less-detailed results.

“The more details you have, the better the results,” said Vaucher. “If you have a generic description, you’ll get a generic result.”

The L-REAC system collects data from a series of weather monitoring stations that evaluate things like air pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. These stations can be the transportable kind like several that ARL has placed around WSMR, or they can be permanent stations like those found at airports or similar facilities.

Since the weather stations and computer systems are largely autonomous, ARL sees military installations and similar facilities as prime examples of where L-REAC could be implemented as part of a force protection plan. On an installation, L-REAC could be installed as a continuously running system, ready for use at a moment’s notice by operation center operators or dispatchers.

“We want to have the capability for them to immediately pull up on their computer screen a picture of what the wind fields are across the post without having to go in and physically start anything running. It would always be running 24-hours a day,” said Hoock.

L-REAC, while still in development, has already seen real-world action. It was used to track and predict smoke and airflow during the Abrams wildfire that threatened WSMR last year.

Ultimately, ARL hopes to have the system integrated with compact mobile weather monitoring systems so first responders and service members can always have a weather station as close to an area of interest as possible.

“The current Army is focusing on short, quick missions, so we want to build a tool that they can use,” said Vaucher.

To make this final mobile component of L-REAC a reality, ARL will need the help of new partners to help fund the integration of mobile sensors into the system. ARL is hoping for partners within the Army and the Department of Defense for integration into force protection plans.

“I think our ultimate goal is to team first on the Army side, and them more on the DOD side, looking for putting L-REAC in at installation levels to begin with,” said Hoock.

Other government organizations and agencies could also easily become partners on the program. Commercial partners would be welcome as well, though the process of establishing a commercial partnership would be more complex.