Internet inventors continue military innovation

    The BBN Technologies research company, which created the ARPANET network (a prototype of the modern Internet) in the 60s, continues its innovative activities for the benefit of the American army. Moreover, the company’s business is going so well that by now it has become the main technology provider for DARPA (Defense Advance Research Projects Agency).

    In 2009, BBN Technologies became the property of Raytheon, today the company's staff has grown to 800 people.

    Cnet reporters visited the office and watched some of the latest developments.

    In the photo - acoustic installation Boomerang III, which in real time determines the coordinates of the firing point of the enemy. This is critical information if the battle takes place on city streets and it is not known which window the sniper just shot from. It is difficult to determine by ear, because the sound reflects off the walls of the surrounding buildings.



    The Boomerang III laptop computer receives information from microphones and within a second calculates the azimuth (with an accuracy of 2.5 °), altitude and distance (10% error) to the sound source. This is the third generation of the device, and the first generation appeared in 2003.



    Now BBN Technologies experts are developing a mobile personal version of the device in which the acoustic sensor can be attached to the shoulder.



    Another development of BBN Technologies is a portable two-way translator from English to Pashtun and vice versa, which provides at least minimal opportunities for communication with the local population. Dictionary for 40 thousand words. The Nexus One Pocket PC is used as the basic device.



    One device shows the English version of the discussion, and the second - Pashtun.



    A variant of the device for translating from English into Arabic and vice versa contains 80 thousand words.



    And another development, which is not reported any details. Multimedia Monitoring System - a system for automatically recording, indexing and monitoring multimedia news on the Internet.


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