Computer gamers have been able to electronically walk down virtual streets for years, but technology being launched at a special forces show in Jordan this week by General Dynamics UK is about to turn cyber-fantasy into military reality.

The British arm of General Dynamics is using the SOFEX 2008 exhibition, which opens April 1 in Amman, to launch its Masthead urban intelligence and surveillance system.

The equipment provides combat troops with three-dimensional maps of individual buildings, city streets or even an entire area in near-real time using infrared laser technology known as LIDAR (Light Intensity Direction and Ranging).

What’s more, said Mike Thomas, the business development manager at the company’s Mission Systems division, work is well advanced to fuse data from additional sensors allowing soldiers and law enforcement agencies to literary see through walls.

It might sound like science fiction to some, but Thomas said that by using 3-D through-the-wall radar, thermal imaging and X-ray backscatter, you can fuse data to create a picture of a building’s external and internal structures, as well as detect objects and people inside.

“LIDAR is the canvas on which you can build through-the-wall technologies and other capabilities. We have shown it can be done,” Thomas said.

The LIDAR sensor will give millimeter-accurate measurements of things like windows, doorways and alleyways in 3-D.

Everything within the range of the sensors is mapped. Every dot in the image is effectively a reference point and the information is accurate enough to be used for precision targeting of weapons.

Masthead can be carried in the back of a covert civilian 4x4 with only minor modifications, or bolted into the back of a military vehicle. It can also be used in a static, dismounted role.

LIDAR technology works using an infrared laser to scan the scene by emitting and reading a vertical strip of light that measures the distance to objects. As the vehicle moves forward at normal city speeds, this builds the basic 3-D model.

Thomas said an hour’s drive can result in a 3-D map of an area ready for disseminating within an hour, saving the military from having to rely on out-of-date conventional maps, old architectural plans or 2-D aerial pictures.

The resulting map would allow security forces to walk through planned urban operations, and decide which routes to an incident site are masked from terrorist view, training and other applications.

Potential users have already had Masthead systems to try out, the executive said.

Thomas said the system has been developed with General Dynamics UK’s own funds and is not subject to U.S. government technology export regulations.

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