The Idea:

I recall hearing about are scores of devices scattered from aircraft that would fall to the ground over a wide area. On reaching the surface they would form a radio communications network, conserving energy by talking only to their nearest neighbors, and forming a robust detection and communications web that could report vehicle movements to a control center.

These networked sensor arrays are small devices that may be scattered from an aircraft over a target landscape. Once on the ground, the sensors self-organize and set up a communications network among themselves. When completed, they can pass information such as vehicle movements back to a command center. Each unit is self-contained and expendable, but the net in its entirety is robust. Although developed for military intelligence, such networks could find applications in hazardous and remote area reconnaissance.

Feedback:

As you describe them, this does not represent a current operational capability, nor one that is under active development. The closest thing to this of which I am aware is REMBASS, but about the only thing that qualifies it for your definition is the remote sensor part. I am sure that someone somewhere has studied the thing of which you speak, but I think it remains no more than a describable concept, not an actual capability. -- John Pike john@globalsecurity.org