Think Avatar for military spies. Pentagon far-out research arm Darpa wants to turn surveillance into a 3-D experience for troops. It has launched the Fine Detail Optical Surveillance (FDOS) Program, and are requesting proposals for prototypes of optical imaging systems that would use "advanced high-resolution 3-D imaging technology." Darpa wants two kinds of surveillance systems: portable units for active battle and drone-ready systems for unmanned planes.

The agency wants proposals that start from scratch, using a fundamentally new model for obtaining video footage. The 3-D surveillance should be able to monitor moving targets with high resolution, from different ranges, and without the need for users to do much legwork, like scanning or refocusing on a target. Darpa anticipates that 3-D surveillance would boost field of vision and depth of vision "by over 100X" compared to existing systems.

That's a big step up from the best drone surveillance in use right now. According to Darpa, current spy-cam systems with 3-D capabilities are big and unwieldy, and can only handle a small surveillance zone without user input. The new 3-D models, by comparison, should rapidly identify targets that are as tough to spot as "a needle moving along the surface of a haystack." Plus, they'd solve one of the biggest complaints about Predator video feeds: Depth perception is often lost in grainy footage, and the view is so narrow that it's been likened to "looking through a soda straw." This new project holds the possibility of changing that. Next step is doing something about the motion sickness that goes along with swooping in the air.

The military's already working on other out-there video systems, like Gorgon Stare: a sensor that can film an area two-and-a-half miles around from 12 different angles. But even the most impressive UAV sensors still operate with camera lenses, whereas the 3-D systems wouldn't: Darpa anticipates the use of advances in focal-plane arrays, laser technology and image processing algorithms. Exactly how they want the 3-D systems to work is still under wraps: part of the solicitation remains classified.

Of course, going 3-D isn't without its challenges. Much like the downsides of new 3-D television sets, the surveillance would require a specific degree of dim lighting to get optimal footage. Three-dimensional TVs are also being derided for causing eyestrain and headaches, but Darpa's current solicitation seems more concerned with out-of-this-world surveillance than troops' ocular health.

If Darpa's really interested in following Hollywood trends, they might want to take note of the progress among Australian researchers. Last month, an Aussie company debuted a hovering drone that was right out of Avatar, and the federal government just handed out $1.01 million for the development of a 3-D surveillance system that's being compared to "a game of Doom."

[Photo: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation]