DHS to use LIDAR for surveillance

LIDAR is a cool technology.  It allows an large area to be mapped in extreme detail.


LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) uses laser as a mapping tool

It now seems that DHS is looking at using 4 contractors to to do “aerial remote sensing services" to the tune of $50M.


From Govt. Security News.

The chosen vendors will be asked to collect aerial imagery using digital cameras in what are known as “vertical” or “oblique” renditions to support emergency and non-emergency incidents nationwide.

It also seems that the FBO link for the solicitation is broken and the "error has been logged".


Here is a link to a art contest using LIDAR.


Check out the details this shit can see.



According to Infowars

LIDAR spy technology, which uses ultraviolet, visible, or near infrared light to track objects or people from the sky, has been used in Iraq and Afghanistan to track insurgents. The US military has praised the technology for its proficiency in providing “battlefield surveillance” and being able to easily locate enemy combatants due to it being “especially useful at seeing through foliage.” LIDAR can be deployed using both manned and unmanned aircraft.

The U.S. Air Force “has already deployed an unknown number of LIDAR aircraft to map all of Afghanistan,” reports MSNBC, with the 3-D laser mapping technology also being adapted to work aboard U.S. Special Forces helicopters such as the Blackhawk or Chinook to help hunt insurgents.

According to Raytheon, one of the companies that develops LIDAR, the technology is adept at tracking “people in crowded environments for safety and security,” because unlike traditional surveillance methods, LIDAR is honed to measure characteristics of individuals and keep them tracked within a “grid cell” so they cannot evade detection.

So there you have it.  DHS wants to use this to hunt those pesky domestic terrorist bugs and pop a can of RAID on them.