Defence tech can improve cellphone connectivity

You are in a crowded, large enclosed area like an exhibition hall and you desperately want to get across to someone on your cellular phone. You will most probably fail to secure a connection if there are too many people trying to use their phones at the same time. There is a limit to the number of phones that can be used at the same time in a given space.

But, this could be history if some of the defence surveillance technologies are adapted for civilian purposes. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), used by the defence forces of many countries mainly for reconnaissance, can be used to make life easier for ordinary people. These vehicles can keep flying for days together, said Alexander Reinhardt, vice-president, head of communications, defence and security systems, EADS.

For instance, the French have been using the Euro Hawk, equipped with powerful enough instruments to monitor the movement of its troops and possible terrorists. This is being done not by Euro Hawks flying above Afghanistan but over France or Germany itself. While they fly at great altitudes, they are able to pass on information to ground control on what is happening in Afghanistan, hundreds of miles away.

Now there is a chance that the Euro Hawk, as it is called in Europe, and the Global Hawk, the one developed by Northrop Grumman of the US, may be modified for civilian use. EADS says the UAV can be equipped to help increase spectrum capacity so that many, many more people are able to use their cellular phones in the same area through it.

Surveillance systems, associated with the defence forces, are used to secure the national borders by monitoring the movements of the enemies.

"But they can be used to monitor the movements of people under surveillance or to find known trouble-makers and stop them in their paths."

It may be only a matter of time before major sports events use UAVs to monitor the surroundings and also help in crowd control or check trouble makers.

Reinhardt says, "We hope to offer the technology to friendly states like India. States like China that have sanctions against them cannot be approached."