To deliver effective border security, any smart wall solution will need to rely heavily on accurate and real-time location information. These remote sensors can then locate and alert the closest border patrol, giving them the information they need to address the threat. Laser-based lidar sensor technology, like that found in driverless cars, can capture 3D images of passing individuals, even at a distance. While human motion will trigger an alarm, the sensor can learn to ignore movement from small animals and foliage. These small, camouflaged devices can be deployed in nearly any environment, detecting threats with impressive accuracy. Smart walls will certainly lean heavily on ground sensors. Screen-watching, by comparison, isn’t just more error-prone - It’s also much more expensive. These cameras can actually “learn” over time, so they only get better at distinguishing between real threats and false alarms. AI-enabled cameras crunch data to identify threats and alert the appropriate individuals to the activity that needs their attention - at just the right moment.įacial recognition, just one capability that machine learning cameras have, can even identify specific persons of interest, giving border security teams the information they need to accurately prioritize and effectively suppress threats.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are forging that connection with the help of real-time digital analysis and situational awareness platforms. Security cameras have long been an obvious choice for monitoring borders, but what video surveillance has lacked is an actionable connection between seeing criminal behavior and actually stopping it. However, based on what’s currently available, we’ve compiled a list of technologies that are almost certain to play major roles in any eventual smart wall solution: There is no one single definition for this recently-conceived solution the technologies that would form the “foundation” of a smart wall have not been agreed on. By building a smart wall with these technologies, the United States could check all the right boxes when it comes to a border security solution: Fast, effective, and cost efficient.īut what actually is a “smart” or “ digital wall”? In short, it’s a collection of discrete technologies that work together to prevent illegal entry, smuggling, and all the various threats posed by a porous southern border. Comprised of flexible and cost-effective technologies, a smart wall could manage a range of security scenarios with greater effectiveness than any concrete wall could offer. The so-called “smart wall” has thus been conceived of as a 21st-century solution to border security. Prohibitive maintenance costs, engineering challenges, and lengthy construction timelines suggest the need for alternative options. But to protect a terrain as vast and complex as the United States’ southern border, physical barriers come with a number of logistical drawbacks.
There are plenty of situations in which walls, fences, and other physical barriers offer an effective means of guarding assets and preventing trespassing. Drones, ground sensors, and situational awareness platforms - these “smart wall” technologies could solve border security without the need for a physical barrier.