Chris Yu
Electrical Engineer, Sensor and Signal Processing Group
Technical Director, Neighborhood Watch, Iraq (NWI)
 How did Draper help deliver a cell phone-based image and video surveillance system for the citizens of Iraq in fewer than
90 days? “From an engineering perspective, it was really a challenge, but also very satisfying,” says Chris Yu, technical
director for NWI. The first week was spent developing the idea, and engineering design, development, and testing had to
be done in under 60 days to allow training and delivery of NWI. “That made the program kind of chaotic. We had ideas of
what could be done, but we had to balance that with time and the related technology limitations,” says Yu.
His team partnered with Qualcomm to adapt commercial cell phone software and integrate with an application to organize
and process image, video, and GPS information over a cell phone network centered on a mobile cell base station that could
be set up anywhere in hours.
Yu realized NWI’s potential impact when his team met with the Army’s First Cavalry division, sponsoring NWI through
the Department of Defense. “We got to talk with the guys who are on the front lines and find out their perspective.
I came away realizing how much I really want to help them,” says Yu. By helping Iraqis protect themselves, NWI aids
U.S. troops as well.
Yu hopes to build on NWI technology to assist troops more directly. “Even with this small program, we were thinking of
future possibilities, particularly leveraging commercial communications technologies for military applications,” says Yu.
“There have been incredible advances in wireless communications and networks. Since one of Draper’s roles is to
identify which technologies can be applied to problems of national significance, we look forward to continuing to
advance this technology.” |
