NONMILITARY APPLICATIONS OF DCPG SENSING TECHNOLOGY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T01137A000200030015-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: March 3, 1970
• Content Type: MEMO

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EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20506
April 9, 1970
ARGO Steering Committee
Attached is a memorandum relating to a possible use of ELINT
satellites for earth science and technology work. It was written
a member of the P5AC Ground Warfare Panel,
who recognized -- along with a recent PSAC Space Sciences Panel
report-- the possibility of transducers sensing environmental
conditions and emitting signals to satellite collectors. I hope you
find the document of interest.
Attachment (unclassified when
.separated from cover memo)
Sanitized Copy App
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Date: March 3, 1970
To:
From
Subject: Nonmilitary Applications of DCPG Sensing Technology
In the past few years an entirely new information gathering technology
has been developed for military applications, sponsored by Defense
Communications Planning Group, utilizing unattended ground sensors. A
spectrum of data collection/data management techniques now exists; the
entire system is evolving rapidly into one of enormous scope and sophisti-
cation. Much of the DCPG function is being taken over by the STANO Command
of the Army. Security considerations allow only the nondetailed discussion
below in an unclassified memo.
The technology is directed toward detecting, classifying, and locating
military targets of interest, principally personnel and vehicles. The
principal sensing methods are seismic, magnetic, acoustic, infrared, and
radar. The sensors are meant to be inexpensive, expendable with limited
life, and emplaced by various methods including airborne and hand. The
outputs from the individual sensors in a sensor field are collected and
transmitted by radio to a central collection facility. In certain instances
a relay is needed. At the central collection facility the data are analyzed
and classified into preselected categories using automatic data processing.
The resulting intelligence is communicated to the user.
It can be seen that the system is comprised of three subsystems, namely,
individual remote sensors, data transmission, and data gnalysis. Logic
dictates an overall design wherein certain requirements for commonality
exist at the interfaces; sensors of every type must be so designed that
their outputs are compatible with the input requirements of the radio link.
In other words, the system is so flexible that in principle it can accept
the outputs of sensors of entirely different phenomena than that for which
the system was originally designed. Of course, new software at the data
analysis center would have to be provided to classify the data from new
types of sensors, but the hardware should remain the same.
With the very large investment by Department of Defense in this
technology, it is worthwhile to consider application to some of our more
pressing nonmilitary problems. Two which come to mind are 1) remote sens-
ing of earth resources; and 2) monitoring of environmental pollution.
Consider each of these.
The resources of the earth can be classified into areas such as
agriculture, forestry, geography, geology, hydrology, oceanography, geodesy,
and cartography. A few examples of the very large number of needs within
these areas are: acreage determination for agriculture commodity control,
soil surveying and mapping, crop reporting and forecasting, disease detec-
tion in field crops, forest fire detection and control, and forest surveying.
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Many approaches to remote sensing of earth resources are under consideration,
for example, multispectral photography from satellites. With so many types
of resources, distributed so widely, no single collection and analysis technique
will suffice.
It should be possible to employ the DCPG developed technology as an
aid in evaluating certain of our earth resources. Sensors could be developed
to detect crop disease, forest fires, soil moisture, water salinity, and a
long list of other phenomena whose parametric values are subject to temporal
change. Methods for airborne sensor implantation, radio link design, and
data analysis could be carried over directly from DCPG.
The second area of interest is environmental pollution. Pollutants
can be classified into natural or man-made, primary or secondary, and major
or minor. The five major primary pollutants are carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons,
sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. Secondary pollutants
include oxidants such as ozone, sulfur trioxide, nitrogen pentoxide. The
peroxy acylnitrates, collectively labeled PAN, are instrumental in producing
photochemical smog.
Many of the pollutants exhibit diurnal and seasonal changes. Their
distributions also show large local geographical variations. In order to be
able to control the level of the pollutants it is necessary to be able to
monitor their concentrations.
Although sensors are available for measuring the concentrations of many
of the pollutants, they are largely laboratory instruments. Also there does
not yet exist any means for deploying fields of sensors, collecting a large
amount of data from the many sensors in a field and from many fields, and
reducing the enormous amount of data. With the very large national interest
in environmental quality control, techniques to accomplish this will ultimately
emerge.
The existing DCPG data collection/data reduction technology should find
immediate application in monitoring pollution. By far not the least considera-
tion is the skill developed by DCPG in seeing that laboratory type sensing
techniques are reduced to mass produced, inexpensive, rugged, disposable
devices.
Among the advantages to the nation of the application of the DCPG sensing
technology to such nonmilitary problem areas as earth resources and environ-
mental pollution are the following:
1. A direct, positive, hardware oriented approach to the solution
of pressing problems about which there has been much discussion
but little technical implementation.
2. Effective use of our national financial resources in finding
nonmilitary applications of a military technology developed at
great expense. The past three Secretaries of Defense, including
Secretary Laird, have expressed interest in finding nonmilitary
applications of military expertise.
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3. Rapid entry into these fields by modification of existing
hardware.
4. Carry over of the entire systems approach from the military
problems to the nonmilitary ones.
5. The possibility of using the existing DCPG organizational
structure including management team.
6. From a public relations point of view, an easily visible hardware
oriented program which readily demonstrates nonmilitary applications
of military technology to pressing national problems.
With this in mind, I suggest that a study be made of the nonmilitary
applications of the DCPG remote sensing technology to include, but not be
limited to, the earth resources and environmental pollution control areas.
Such a study might be conducted through PSAC, or perhaps through the National
Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering.
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