February 5, 2010:
The U.S. Navy is buying 28 Cerberus surveillance towers, to guard its bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Cerberus is a portable tower containing, night and day video cameras and radar. This enables the tower to detect anyone approaching the ten meter tower, in any weather, at any time of the day. The radar can detect people out to 3.5 kilometers, and vehicles out to 4.4 kilometers. The thermal camera has a range of 8.9 kilometers. Each tower comes with its own generator, and can be equipped with solar panels.
Two or more Cerberus towers automatically pool their contact information in a unified display of the area being guarded. The U.S. Army has also bought Cerberus towers for guarding bases. The Cerberus system is popular with civilian and police organizations, because of its ease of use and portability.