Like the old song says, “Every picture tells a story, don’t it?”
A digital camera being used by troops in Afghanistan and Iraq produces pictures can tell incredibly detailed stories: exact time of day taken, longitude/latitude of both shooter and subject, direction of the camera aim, and even 16 seconds of audio per photo, so that the user can note critical information.
“You get everything you need in three seconds,” said Jim Kidd, vice president of Geo Tactical Solutions of Parker, Colo. Everything is stored on a memory disk and can be turned over to intel officials for analysis. “This way, you get back into the rear and the intel people don’t have you sitting for hours going over what you saw.”
The Ricoh 500SE-M Tactical Digital Camera is the heart of the system. It comes with a GPS capability developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and is compatible with the range of mapping software and programs, including Google Earth and Falcon View, Kidd said.
The camera’s accessories include telescopic lenses, a night-vision lens and a range finder that captures the distance between shooter and target and IDs the target’s exact latitude and longitude. Even on its own, the camera records its own location every five seconds, and specifically notes its lat/long whenever a photo is taken, according to Kidd.
For Marines and Soldiers out on patrol, the camera is a continuously updated log. Once back at base, the disc can be put into a computer and the entire route of the patrol can be superimposed over a zoom-in/zoom-out map, with each spot where a picture clearly marked; a click on the mark and the image appears as a pop-up.
“We’ve got about 1,000 of these downrange right now in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Kidd said.
– Bryant Jordan
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I hope these aren’t manufactured in china
perhaps the 16second audio caption limit on the pictures is there or purpose. Think twitter not blog lol.
Completely agree with you, Sgt Oblat.
This kind of “soldier revolution” stuff we’re looking at is already COTS, and not just laboratory COTS, but free-with-a-two-year-plan COTS.
Why not just pick up a ton of off-the-shelf cameraphones, ruggedize them, add night vision, etc. and then slap on a helmet display / mounting lug and roll with that?
this reminds me of when i got a new camera from circuit city’s clearance sale last year and showed my friends microsoft photosynth. coooooool errr
“You don’t actually think they spend $20000 on a hammer, $30000 on a toilet seat, do you?” – Independence Day
quote of the week lol
My Nikon Coolpix from 2004 could do 10 seconds of audio per picture. With modern storage technology you could easily do more and not compromise storage volume, especially since this is only an 8MP camera. You can add geo tagging devices to most modern dSLR cameras, which have far more convenient lenses to use than that spotter scope. If you ruggedized my Nikon D80 it’d probably be a far more versatile platform than this thing. This is just a crummy point and shoot in a rubber body.
Please tell me they didn’t spend time and money developing this? There are a dozen modern Cameras that already do everything you are talking about here, including audio clips, GPS (Which can push the picts into a map), time, direction, etc. Many for less than $750.
It’s a great idea, it’s just that it’s not new at all, and someone else already did all the R&D and moved to production.
Everyone here is saying that we should just ruggedize the BestBuy cameras.
What do you think Ricoh just did? Ruggedizing something for the military is not trivial, nor cheap.
Just look at the price of the Panasonic Toughbooks (the fully rugged ones) versus a Dell.
My S2 had what looked like a bulky digital camera last year, but along with the usual perks of a digital camera it automatically stamped a 10 digit grid on the photo along with the date and time.
Is this automatically sending the photos back as they are taklen? or only updated once the camera is returned to base?
I know they now had SD cards that can remotly upload (while in the camera) back to a home computer, as well as publish right from the camera. Obviously this might not be as valuable in the field when you are miles from a hotspot.. but still could useful.