NCJ Number
57746
Date Published
1977
Length
7 pages
Annotation
THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF GEOSTATIONARY AND LOW-ORBIT SATELLITES IN EVERYDAY LAW ENFORCEMENT FIELD OPERATIONS IS DISCUSSED.
Abstract
APPLICATION AREAS FOR GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITES WERE VALIDATED WITH EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE'S DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY (DEA) AND IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE (INS). A GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE WAS USED TO TRACK A TEST VEHICLE ACROSS THE U.S. THE RESULTING DATA COLLECTED IN VARIOUS SECTIONS OF THE COUNTRY SUGGEST THAT GEOSTATIONARY STATELLITE SYSTEMS COULD PROVIDE TWO-WAY COMMUNICATIONS AND VEHICLE TRACKING BETWEEN MOBILES AND BASE STATIONS OPERATING OVER LARGE DISTANCES IN MOST PARTS OF THE WORLD. CURRENT DEA EXPERIMENTS ARE EVALUATING LAW ENFORCEMENT APPLICATIONS FOR LOW-ORBITING SATELLITES. PRELIMINARY RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE LOW POWER REQUIRED TO COMMUNICATE WITH LOW-ORBIT SATELLITES MAKES THEM PARTICULARLY ATTRACTIVE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT. HOWEVER, MANY STEPS MUST BE TAKEN PRIOR TO IMPLEMENTATION OF GEOSTATIONARY LAW ENFORCEMENT SATELLITE SYSTEMS. FIRST, SPECTRUM MUST BE ALLOCATED FOR PUBLIC SAFETY MOBILE-SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS. SECOND, ADDITIONAL HARDWARE DEVELOPMENTS ARE NEEDED TO MINIATURIZE TRANSPONDERS AND PROVIDE LOW-PROFILE ANTENNAS SUITABLE FOR OPERATING WITH SATELLITE DESIGNS AND THE VARIETY OF LAW ENFORCEMENT VEHICLE COMMONLY DEPLOYED. THIRD, A CONSORTIUM OF LOCAL, NATIONAL, OR INTERNATIONAL USER GROUPS NEEDS TO BE FORMED TO IDENTIFY PARTICULAR LAW ENFORCEMENT PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS, ALONG WITH THE GATHERING OF ADDITIONAL EXPERIMENTAL PROPAGATION DATA. FOURTH, DETAILED SYSTEM DESIGN STEPS NEED TO BE INITIATED. TABLES AND MAPS ARE INCLUDED, ALONG WITH REFERENCES. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--KBL)