Thread: Sandia lab develops tool to help with border security

Sandia lab develops tool to help with border security
7:11 pm today

David Louie

LIVERMORE, Calif. (KGO) -- The Department of Homeland Security has pulled the plug on a controversial, billion-dollar high-tech border security system, but that does not mean the government is giving up on high tech solutions.

Homeland Security admits the technology deployed along stretches of the Arizona border has been undependable.

"Right now there's no really good way for them to look at how each piece of technology performs in and of itself as well as of the whole system; this technology will allow them to begin to examine that," Sandia National Labs project manager Jason Reinhardt said.

A tabletop touch-screen has been developed by Sandia National Labs in Livermore. It is called the Borders High Level Model. It is part video game and part analytical tool.

The Borders High Level Model has tremendous potential to change the kind of technology we have at the border, everything from the low-tech chain link fence to the sensors they put in the ground to detect someone walking on foot.

The goal is to promote collaboration among different teams that see the problem from different perspectives.

"Through a tool like this, you can see how helicopters interact with the terrain, how border patrol agents themselves interact and how field officers at the ports of entry interact and you can see together working as a team how you can actually best protect the border," principal investigator Donna Djordjevich said.

"It's kind of like a football game; you have crossers in Mexico and they're attempting to move into Texas this way towards the goal line and each crosser has a decision model, so they make decision when to hide, when to evade, when to flee, when to run back," project manager Jason Reinhardt said.

Sandia was able to develop this in nine months and for under $1 million. The video game component and analytical software were adapted from previous research done at Sandia.

The model will allow field personnel to analyze their work and to help shape what kind of technology is needed.

"I don't think we're ever going to get to a point where you're going to have a completely sealed border, but with these tools, you can maximize your ability to enforce that line," Reinhardt said.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sectio ... id=8053123