Could the Berlin Wall have been a Smart Border? (2/2)

In today’s world, technology has been argued by many as a more effective and cheaper way to secure a border than a physical barrier. According to Henry Cuellar, a Democrat representative in the US Congress for a border district in Texas, physical barriers cost approximately $25 million per mile, with technology only costing between $1-$2 million per mile (Birnbaum, 2019). As well as this, physical barriers such as the Berlin Wall, as well as Donald Trump’s proposed wall along the Mexican border tend to be a lot more controversial given their symbolically divisive presence. With this in mind, if Gorbachev had the use of the modern technologies below, he may have been able to commence deconstruction of the Berlin wall and put these technologies in place to preserve the border, while he worked towards his longer-term goal of opening the border entirely.

Source: (Feeney, 2017)

Since 2006, the United States has been using unmanned surveillance drones to detect and assist in identifying illegal border crossings and guide enforcement agents. These drones are able to stay in flight for approximately 30 hours without needing a charge, and are extremely precise in their detections. So much so, that they are capable of reading a car’s number plate from 2 miles up in the air. They are equipped with electro-optical infrared scanners as well as thermographic heat sensors that allow them to capture such pinpoint detections. They transmit information back to the ground via satellite link so enforcement can respond to alerts instantly (Ghaffary, 2020).

Source: (Boyd, 2019)

As of late, drone technology has become smaller and cheaper. They have been hailed as a “great success” by Michael Harrison, Associate Chief of Special Operations with US Border Patrol, and allow for the surveillance of the many remote and mountainous areas along the US-Mexico border. Although they aren’t as effective in adverse weather conditions and can’t stay in the air a long as their larger counterparts, they run at a fraction of the cost and require far less training to learn how to operate them (Ghaffary, 2020).

Source: (Fccid.io, n.d.)

The Blighter ground surveillance radar (GSR) is a type of radar technology that can be used for long-range remote surveillance and detection of vehicles and people trying to cross borders illegally. It uses sophisticated electronic scanning, Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave radar, and Doppler signal processing technology that is capable of surveying an area of over 3,000kmsq in a matter of seconds, regardless of daylight and weather conditions. This technology also enables the radar to detect slow moving objects, while minimising the number of false-positive alerts (Blighter, 2020).

Source: (Shaw, 2016).

Tunnel Detection Systems are used to accurately locate intruders tunnelling. The technology uses sensors buried in the ground up to 3 feet, with the sensors wired back to a remote central processing control unit, which communicates with the command and control centre. Each sensor monitors in real time a depth of 1,000ft into the ground, and a width of 1,500ft across the surface. The sensors technology is unaffected by traffic noise, rivers, or construction. Once someone tunnelling comes in range of a sensor, it sends an alert back to the control centre or by email/text to a designated person, while at the same time remaining passive, ensuring the intruders do no know they are being tracked. Their precise location as well as their tunnelling progress/speed is then tracked so they can be apprehended when they emerge at their target location (Shaw, 2016).

Bibliography

Birnbaum, E. (2019). Trump, Dem talk of 'smart wall' thrills tech companies. [online] TheHill. Available at: https://thehill.com/policy/technology/427929-trump-dem-talk-of-smart-wall-thrills-tech-companies.

Feeney, M. (2017). Border Patrol Seeking Facial Recognition Drones. [online] Cato Institute. Available at: https://www.cato.org/blog/border-patrol-seeking-facial-recognition-drones.

Ghaffary, S. (2020). The "smarter" wall: How drones, sensors, and AI are patrolling the border. [online] Vox. Available at: https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/16/18511583/smart-border-wall-drones-sensors-ai.

Boyd, A. (2019). US Testing Autonomous Border-Patrol Drones. [online] Defense One. Available at: https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2019/09/cbp-test-autonomous-drones-use-border/159604/.

Blighter. (2020). National Border Security and Surveillance Using Radars | Blighter. [online] Available at: https://www.blighter.com/key-markets/national-border-security/.

Fccid.io. (n.d.). [online] Available at: https://fccid.io/img.php?id=1277094&img=bg2.png.

Shaw, P. (2016). SureWave Technology Tunnel Detection System. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqajWfWI2Qg.