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Pivotal Warfighter System Awarded Army’s Greatest Invention of the Year Honors

Published June 6, 2007

ALEXANDRIA, Va.The U.S. Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command recently selected the Topographic Engineering Center’s (TEC) BuckEye program, a highresolution, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) and 3D mapping system, as a 2006 Army Greatest Invention of the Year for the center’s development of a leaner, faster, more efficient method of collecting and disseminating geospatial intelligence information to deployed Soldiers. TEC will be recognized for this key contribution to Soldier readiness during a ceremony at noon Tuesday, June 12, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va.

The U.S. Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command recently selected the Topographic Engineering Center’s (TEC) BuckEye program, a highresolution, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) and 3D mapping system, as a 2006 Army Greatest Invention of the Year for the center’s development of a leaner, faster, more efficient method of collecting and disseminating geospatial intelligence information to deployed Soldiers. TEC will be recognized for this key contribution to Soldier readiness during a ceremony at noon Tuesday, June 12, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va.

BuckEye currently uses a digital imagery camera and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) system to produce geospatial information for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, highresolution 3D Urban mapping, as well as change detection/battle damage assessment missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other initiatives in support of the Global War on Terror. To date, BuckEye collected over 500,000 individual color images, representing 17,000 square kilometers of data, primarily over cities in Iraq and Afghanistan, facilitating urban warfare planning, rehearsal and execution in these complex, everchanging operational environments.

Data produced by the system is unclassified, so it can be easily distributed via DVD and Department of Defense networks to all levels of the force structure, including coalition  partners. BuckEye data is also being used to support reconstruction efforts for city planning and infrastructure assessment.

Nominations for the U.S. Army Greatest Inventions of the Year awards were submitted from across the Army community and evaluated by Soldier teams from the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command and active Army Divisions. "The inventions submitted demonstrate the vast experience within the Army laboratory community as a sincere commitment of these laboratories to improving the readiness of our Army," said General Richard A. Cody, Department of the Army’s vice chief of staff and final selection authority for the award program. Evaluators judged the entries based upon their impact on Army capabilities, potential benefits to organizations outside of the Army, and their inventiveness. BuckEye was one of ten programs selected as the Army’s “Top 10 Greatest Inventions” for calendar year 2006.


Release no. 07-011