Vanguard Magazine

its existing fleet for intelligence, surveil- lance and reconnaissance missions around the world. This support will allow PAL Aerospace to do the necessary engineer- ing, research and development to increase the aircraft's technical functionality. The Force Multiplier is owned and operated by PAL Aerospace and is available for lease for an extensive range of missions in- cluding maritime patrol, ice management and search and rescue. On the ship's surveillance front, Rutter sigma S6 is a small target surveillance sys- tem used for the detection of various small objects which reduces equipment dam- age. Their tech is deployed in offshore platforms, support vessels, augmenting hazard detection and notification. Evolution of surveillance Just like all technology, surveillance is constantly changing, and as we collect more and more data, we start to realize the need to capture different types of data to use in new and different ways. It's just like we often find with the data we collect at OMX, once its collected, it's all about what you do with that data – how it is filtered, combined, analyzed, visualized and reported on makes all the difference. Often, the value of what you can do with the data even takes some time to come to the surface and be put into practice. One thing is for sure, when it comes to data collection and aggregating, the inclination now is to collect whatever we can "before determining the full range of their actual and potential uses and mobilizing algo- rithms and analytics not only to under- stand a past sequence of events but also to predict and intervene before behaviors, events, and processes are set in train." – (David Lyon in "Surveillance, Snowden, and Big Data: Capacities, consequences, and critique"). The plethora of new technologies, and the emergence of connected hardware devices all around us (ie. "Internet of Things"), present both opportunities for new services and for new threats to access and privacy. With a forecast of over 50 bil- lion connected devices by 2020, the com- bination of sensor and positional data will continue to become more widely available at less expense and lay the foundation for new services. Like a modern arms race, surveillance technology must continually evolve to stay ahead of the other. The future of surveillance technology is to continue to innovate, and to improve upon simplic- ity, speed, versatility, interconnectivity and security. In addition, as data is collected, there is a need to come up with new and innovative ways to leverage that data for predictive analytics to proactively provide useful information to decision makers. I am confident there is a real place for Canadian technologies to be a part of this rapidly changing and increasingly impor- tant technology sector. Nicole Verkindt is the technology editor of Vanguard magazine and founder and presi- dent of OMX. She is a board member of the Canadian Commercial Corporation and was recently appointed to the board of the Peter Munk School of Global Affairs. www.vanguardcanada.com FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 39 The Force Multiplier is owned and operated by PAL Aerospace and is available for lease for an extensive range of missions including maritime patrol, ice management and search and rescue. Coverage, Viasat technology WatCh "Just like all technology, surveillance is constantly changing, and as we collect more and more data, we start to realize the need to capture different types of data to use in new and different ways."

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