U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has designated a certain surveillance system as a program of record, allowing the technology to be continuously procured through allotted funds.
CBP said Thursday that its Autonomous Surveillance Towers, used by U.S. Border Patrol, are designed to autonomously facilitate surveillance on a 24-hour basis. AST uses radar technology to sense moving objects that are then tracked by the tower's camera. The tower uses algorithms to determine what the detected object is.
“These towers give agents in the field a significant leg up against the criminal networks that facilitate illegal cross-border activity,” said Rodney Scott, border patrol chief. CBP leverages autonomy to help border patrol agents focus on main tasks as surveillance operations run unmanned.
