-
- Lockheed Martin Corporation Lockheed
Martin Announces `Silent Sentry(TM)' Surveillance System; Passive System
Uses TV-Radio Signals to Detect, Track Airborne Objects
-
- GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- Lockheed Martin announced today (10-12) a new technology
for surveillance, the Silent Sentry(TM) system, capable of detecting a
wide range of airborne objects such as airplanes, helicopters and rockets
in real-time, and with high accuracy.
-
- The heart of Silent Sentry is its innovative
Passive Coherent Location (PCL) technology developed by Lockheed Martin
Mission Systems, which uses everyday broadcast signals, such as those for
television and radio, to illuminate, detect and track objects. A passive
detection system for U.S. government civil agency and military purposes,
Silent Sentry transmits no radio frequency (RF) energy as conventional
radars do and has no RF ``signature'' to alert enemy threats.
-
- Instead, it uses the energy that already
exists in airspace for detection purposes, and does not adversely impact
or harm the environment. ``Television and radio transmissions blanket the
Earth and extend into the far edges of space, can give Silent Sentry broad
application for a wide range of surveillance tasks, and unlimited access
to broadcast signals for accurate, precise detection and tracking of targets
in real-time,'' said Terry Drabant, President, Lockheed Martin Mission
Systems.
-
- By using broadcast transmitters and signals
available throughout the world, Silent Sentry casts a ``wider net'' than
current radar systems and provides new levels of early detection, to reveal
tangible proof of intruders and can enable rapid, defensive reaction to
threats. The system can be deployed to plug gaps in radar coverage and
enhance global awareness and command-control decision-making.
-
- "Silent Sentry is a passive system
which doesn't transmit a radar-like RF signature and cannot be detected.
This quality gives it a superior level of security for surveillance operations,
and is also an environmentally friendly solution,'' said Drabant, whose
company has spent 15 years developing and successfully testing the innovative
PCL technology.
-
- Silent Sentry is a multi-static illuminator
surveillance system which uses three or more broadcast signals to determine
precise three-dimensional target trajectories, and unlike ``scanning''
radars, Silent Sentry provides continuous coverage of the airspace. The
Silent Sentry product family includes versions which can be mounted in
buildings and fixed structures, or in deployed configurations, such as
trucks, or shelters, for rapid relocation.
-
- Commercial technology such as powerful
processors and high dynamic range receivers help make Silent Sentry a low-cost
approach to effective and reliable surveillance system coverage against
a wide range of potential threats.
-
- A typically configured system includes
Silicon Graphics, Inc.(R) processors, the Autometric Edge Product Family(TM)
visualization and analysis software, and receivers built by Lockheed Martin
from commercial products, and range in cost from $3 million to $5 million.
-
- ``As the cost of commercial technology
falls, and performance climbs in proportion, the Silent Sentry system will
become an even more affordable and increasingly attractive complement to
existing surveillance systems,'' said Drabant.
-
- Over the past 10 years, Missions Systems
has successfully tested its enabling PCL technology in a variety of environments
to prove its applicability in U.S. government military and civil agency
applications.
-
- Lockheed Martin Mission Systems is a
business unit of the Corporation's Information & Services Sector. In
addition to systems integration, Mission Systems provides command, control,
communications and computers for DoD systems, software development for
intelligence systems, technologies and systems for satellite navigation
and surveillance, and the command and control of satellites.
-
- Mission Systems is prime contractor for
numerous command, control,communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance (C4ISR) programs. Among the C4ISR programs are the Theater
Battle Management Core Systems, Global Command and Control Systems -- Army,
the All Source Analysis System, the Maneuver Control System, Global Transportation
Network and the Computing Environment STRATCOM Architecture program. Lockheed
Martin is also pioneering efforts to achieve interoperability among C4ISR
systems through its privately-funded research and development initiative,
called Project Rainbow. Headquartered in Bethesda, Md.,
-
- Lockheed Martin is a highly diversified
global enterprise principally engaged in the research, design, development,
manufacture and integration of advanced-technology products and services.
The Corporation's core businesses span space and telecommunications, electronics,
information and services, aeronautics, energy and systems integration.
Employing approximately 170,000 people worldwide, Lockheed Martin had 1997
sales surpassing $28 billion.
-
- Silent Sentry is a trademark of the Lockheed
Martin Corporation. Silicon Graphics is a registered trademark of Silicon
Graphics, Inc. Autometric Edge Product Family is a trademark of Autometric,
Inc. SOURCE: Lockheed Martin Corporation
|
