Secure Streaming Video On Phones The Future Of The U.S. Army

Today deputy program manager for Army unmanned aerial systems for the U.S. Army Tim Owings said that the Army is committed, or rather, remains committed, to the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), which is a main mean for disseminating video images to the battlefield. This project is definitely underway, but wont see field operation until 2014. However, rapid advances in encryption software and other technology developments in recent years could mean smaller-scale self-contained 4G networks could be the answer for troops seeing streaming video images on their phone in about two years from now. Think of the implications!

Planes flying overhead, troops approaching from the ground, both of them able to see from the perspective of each-others vantage point. It'd be just like a video game. Imagine that. Owings told reporters of this 2-year possibility at the Annual Association of the U.S. Army conference, 2010. Companies working to secure 4G network systems that would be able to allow video streaming to smart phone in this area are as follows: Textron Inc, Raytheon Co, L-3 Communications Holdings Inc and Sierra Nevada Corp.

Owings went on to say that encryption advances would allow transmission of data within a limited area would be "pretty darn secure." He also noted that it'd be pretty darn inexpensive to do, as this whole project is being developed on already comercially-available phones.

He said that smaller networks like this could compliment larger systems across the entire battlefield, and that it could potentially be a part of the future of the Army's unmanned aerial systems planned for September 2011.

Owings said this project, the possibility of sending video images to cell phones securely, has been aided by advances that allow unmanned aerial plan "Textron" to stay in the air longer. Wonderful, wild, terrifying.

[Via Rueters]