Super Bowl Security to Use Sensor Fusion to Fight WMD Threats

As the nation’s attention turns to the Super Bowl, the Michigan National Guard will be patrolling the stadium and surrounding area armed with handheld computers and special sensors linked into one terrorist fighting and WMD detection system.

Computerworld.com reports that while similar systems have been used in the past, this is the first time that officials will be using one interface, one network and a variety of equipment to get real-time intelligence to everyone connected.

In the past, military and police units often relied on multiple systems, each for chemical, biological or radiological threats that required continuous updates by radio to a central hub. That information was then relayed back out to the team after analysis.

“The big advantage here is that it uses Internet protocols, so [the incoming data] can be loaded into secure or classified Web sites, so personnel up to thousands of miles away can get readings in real time,” said Lt. Col. Clark Hinga of the Michigan National Guard’s 51st Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team. Read more.

By Paul Kerstein