ABSTRACT
More emphasis is now being placed on the use of television as a battlefield sensor. It is now possible to fit tiny TV cameras into Remotely Piloted Vehicles or to drop them by parachute. A battlefield sensor has four main tasks to perform: to detect enemy movements, to identify the type of enemy, to locate geographically the detection made, and to get the information back to base in usable form. A typical seismic sensor, called Tobias and made by Marconi Elliott Avionic Systems, uses small geophones buried below the ground and connected to a distant display unit by field telephone cable. A complete battlefield sensor system has to have its own communications network. A typical system might be air dropped, each sensor being parachuted to the ground. Britain is developing both seismic and infra-red sensors in addition to the two already in service and is believed to have carried out trials with American equipment.
