Boomerang, a gunfire detection system from BBN Technologies, already uses sound-analysis technology to calculate
shot paths. The device indicates the range and elevation of
incoming gunfire on an LED screen display. The system,
which also announces the gunfire's direction with a recorded
voice, features a set of microphones mounted to an aluminum stand. "It looks like a small, very sparse Christmas
tree," says Maher. "It's under a meter tall."
Currently being used in Iraq and Afghanistan, Boomerang
can be set up outside a building or tent or mounted to a
HUMV (Fig. 2). Future detection systems will be even more
accurate, able to work with a wider range of weapons, and
small enough to be held in a soldier's hand.
Maher notes that gunfire analysis is merely the first step in
creating even more sophisticated sound detection systems.
"A gunshot's intense energy and distinctness make it an ideal
signal for rapid analysis," he says. Other sounds aren't as
easy to pick apart, however.
"The military would like to have some sort of deployable
surveillance," says Maher, "where the systems would have
enough intelligence to distinguish between the sound of a
Jeep driving by, or a horse walking through tall grass, or
somebody creeping up on hands and knees."
Maher believes such technology will someday allow soldiers, as well as civilian police officers and security guards, to
respond quickly to a wide range of suspicious sounds. He
notes that working on gunfire detection is good practice for
developing other types of noise-recognition systems.
"My feeling is that if we can't develop our software and our
algorithms to work reliably with these very distinctive [gun-fire] sounds, then we're likely not going
to have much luck trying to distinguish
very subtle changes," says Maher.
SHOCK DETECTOR
As wounded
soldiers are brought to care stations
and field hospitals, one of the crucial
tasks facing medics, nurses, and physicians is accurately judging each patient's condition. All too often,
injured soldiers are judged "stable" at
field sites, and then they destabilize
during flights to long-term health-care
facilities located in Germany or the U.S.
"If we think somebody is stabilized,
but they're not, they're going to go
downhill fast," says Babs Soler, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in
Worcester, Mass. "You can continually
monitor people in hospitals, but it's
really difficult if you put somebody on
a helicopter or airplane."
To improve survival rates, Soler
developed a portable gadget that can
spot the signs of shock long before a
soldier begins to develop symptoms of
the life-threatening condition. "The
military has been looking for a long
time at trying to be able to non-invasively monitor soldiers who are at risk
for having serious medical problems,
like shock," she says. "You want to
know as early as possible when somebody has internal bleeding."
Based on optoelectronic technology,
Soler's device detects incipient shock by
monitoring three key indicators: oxygen and acid levels in muscles as well as
the volume of red cells in the patient's
blood, all without the need for blood
draws or incisions. It comprises a console and disposable sensor that provides rapid and continual monitoring
via near-infrared reflected light.
"A spectrometer measures just how
much light there is at each wavelength," Soler says. "The computer
contains three mathematic equations
that analyze the spectrum to report on
the three parameters."
The monitor is designed to stay
attached to patients until they reach a
fully staffed and equipped hospital.
"Hopefully, the numbers stay normal
throughout the entire transport," says
Soler. If not, an alarm sounds to alert a
nearby caregiver that anti-shock treatment is required.
"They would look at the numbers as
well as other information they might
have to figure out how to treat the
patient," says Soler.
Soler's research was funded in part
by a grant from the U.S. Department of
Defense's Peer Reviewed Medical
Research Program. Congress created
the program in 1999 to promote military health research. Soler and her company, Reflectance Medical, are now
seeking FDA approval for the device
with the hope of marketing it to civilian
EMT squads and trauma centers
nationwide. "We hope this will be near
every ICU bed," she says.
One has to wonder if Gort used such a
device to monitor Klaatu's recovery.