Description:
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When assessing the trends of global connectiveness, commercial remote sensing from space, and advances in artificial intelligence (AI), the trends point toward a future where information and overhead imagery will become available to the general public in near-realtime. The rise of large constellations with remote sensing satellites and capabilities ranging from synthetic aperture radar imaging, nighttime imaging, and infrared imaging is a global phenomenon. Coupled with AI analysis, data from different sensors can be combined, processed and made useful for a specific users needs on handheld devices worldwide. Large constellations of communication satellites and the rollout of 5G in metropolitan areas will provide the data pipeline needed to reach users globally at broadband speeds. A scenario, coined the Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) Singularity, is a future where realtime Earth observations with analytics are available globally to the average citizen on the ground providing a tremendous wealth of information, insight, and intelligence. Civil application could include identifying an empty parking spot from space or tracking autonomous vehicles in smart cities. These developments will likely not be contained within the U.S. but will be a worldwide phenomenon. The opportunities seem immense, but what would the availability of ubiquitous, realtime intelligence mean to the military operator and warfighter? The U.S. approach to commercial remote sensing has been to regulate and limit the imagery that can be taken from space, but international capabilities will not be so easily curtailed. Has the time come for the military operator to find better ways to hide, rather than tell someone not to look?
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