Smart MilTech

On a warm, moonless night, the special-ops squad reached the perimeter of a compound with towering concrete walls suspected to be a base of operations for an active terrorist organization, potentially scheming and plotting a terror attack.The arduous trek through the unforgiving Himalayan terrain in pitch-black darkness had been a challenge for the squad in itself, and now they reached the first milestone of the mission.To enter the compound safely, the squad must gather intelligence on the number of occupants, whether they are armed, their patrolling pattern, and if there are any surveillance equipment or alarms that might go off on scaling the walls. A drone cannot be used for surveying the area because it would be as loud as a screeching bird in the silent night, rendering all the effort futile. Due to the compound being hidden beneath the canopy of valley trees, a high-flying reconnaissance drone was also unable to provide much aerial imagery. It all came down to this moment, but the squad came prepared for any situation, including this.The four-man squad split into pairs and sneaked around the walls in opposite directions. They offloaded their 20-kilogram BirdBox and flicked the control panel open. With a couple of taps, the surveillance device was up and running. At the press of a button, the unit housing the thermal vision camera started rising up in the sky on its pole. Within a few seconds, the camera unit was way past the height of the compound wall and had started streaming live imagery on the handheld screens in the squad’s palms. The squad realized this would be a short and successful mission. The modern battlefield has changed drastically in terms of weapons and strategies in the last few decades. Information and data are the new-age armours of the defence forces around the world. Collecting meaningful data either via satellites or surveillance drones has become the new normal. But with these changing tactics of the defence forces, new ways to avoid being caught under radars have also been developing. From camouflage canopies to setting up bases in densely populated regions, challenges keep emerging in intelligence collection. Such challenges can be tackled by using modern technology to its best and smartly incorporating it into field equipment as well. The combat helmet need not be just a shell to protect the wearer from impacts anymore. Tactical vests need not be mere equipment-carrying wearables. With technology making sensors and devices smaller and more powerful, leveraging these advances to benefit on-field troops could be a game-changer on the battlefield. For a long time, drones have been used for surveying large areas of land from the sky. It is cheap, effective, and easy. However, it lacks stealth and endurance. A drone can be seen and heard from far away, not to mention its short battery life, making it ineffective for long-duration surveillance. High-altitude drones are also present in the game. These multi-million-dollar UAVs can carry ballistic payloads and fly long distances in a very short time. The pilot can control them using a joystick and a screen sitting safely inside a bunker. However, these drones fail in areas with heavy foliage cover or when the area of interest is sheltered from the sky. Additionally, their technological complexity requires a crew of highly skilled engineers for maintenance. With BirdBox, we aim to solve many of these issues that defence forces currently face and provide equipped with advanced sensors and cameras to capture high-quality audio and imagery in any scenario. It is powered by a powerhouse of a battery, and its low-energy consumption electronics ensure it can last up to 2 weeks. While it may not be able to travel distances on its own like a UAV, it can be dropped off from an aircraft in the area of interest. Its automatic parachute deployment and self-balancing technology, paired with remote activation, require no human interference for BirdBox to start relaying imagery as soon as it touches down on the surface. Its thoughtful design makes it easy for the user to operate it intuitively. Once retracted and powered off, BirdBox is as big as a medium-sized backpack and can be carried on the back or dragged behind like a trolley. The innovation that went into developing BirdBox ensures it provides military personnel with the most functionality and efficiency in all possible scenarios, potentially keeping human lives out of danger as much as possible.