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New Radar Scope from DARPA: 'We Can See You Now'

01.03.06 - Sometime this spring, troops in Iraq will be using a new tool to fight insurgents: an updated radar system that uses RF signals to go where no radar has ever gone before -- inside buildings. Developed by DARPA and called the Radar Scope, the hand-held device will give warfighters the capability to sense through a foot of concrete and 50 feet beyond into a room.

DARPA illustration

The Radar Scope is just the beginning of what Edward Baranoski from DARPA's Special Projects Office sees as the next frontier in warfighting: creating modern radar systems that can extend reconnaissance into urban canyons and the interiors of buildings by taking advantage of radar/RF "mulitpathing."

"In short, we believe we can transform 'Can you hear me now?' into 'We can see you now,'" Baranoski writes in "Urban Operations, the New Frontier for Radar." (Click for the .pdf).

Baranoski muses, "Imagine a commander being able to drive or fly down a city block and monitor buildings on both sides of the street, to find occupants inside, determine the layouts of the buildings, and locate weapon caches.

"We will be developing capabilities in advanced multistatic sensors and signal processing to create urban radar systems that will allow reconnaissance over whole city blocks."