Modern warfare is no longer confine to the dusty or marshy battlefields of the world. The war has shifted from the battlegrounds to the scientific boardrooms of the world. It is technological breakthroughs and scientific ideas that keep modern day army ahead of the infiltrators and enemies. While this is no way to say that the soldier who sheds his sweat, tears and blood is any less significant, but in fact technology aids this warrior and hones his senses. Now it is not just honing the senses but also extending the senses of the modern defense forces.
A six-inch robotic spy plane modeled after a bat would gather data from sights, sounds and smells in urban combat zones and transmit information back to a soldier in real time. That’s the Army’s concept, and it has awarded the University Of Michigan College Of Engineering a five-year, $10-million grant to help make it happen. The grant establishes the U-M Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology, called COM-BAT for short. The grant includes an option to renew for an additional five years and $12.5 million.
Low-power miniaturized radar and a very sensitive navigation system would help the bat find its way at night. Energy scavenging from solar, wind, vibration and other sources would recharge the bat’s lithium battery. The aircraft would use radio to send signals back to troops. The Bat runs on the power of the elements to provide significant and sustained information that is vital to winning battles in the real world. Bats have a highly-attuned echolocation sense providing high-resolution navigation and sensing ability even in the dark, just as our sensor must be able to do. The Solar spy craft is also designed to function as sharply and as astutely as the real creature itself.
The device goes way beyond just being an extension of the senses of those in the war situation. It also tells us that we can keenly develop modern war gadgets in an eco-friendly fashion and we can intertwine technology and battle situations with green features which do not harm the planet while dealing with the danger at hand. If we can effectively dispose of all threats, home and abroad, with that efficiency and green panache, then the world would be a much safer place indeed. I hope good old George Bush is listening somewhere.
