[1] ARGUS is a form of wide-area persistent surveillance system that allows for one camera to provide such detailed video that users can collect "pattern-of-life" data and track individual people inside the footage anywhere within the field of regard.
Automatic object-tracking software called Persistics [2] from the Lawrence Livermore labs allows users to auto-track every moving object within the field of regard (36 sq miles) and generate geolocation chronographs[3] of each individual vehicle and pedestrian's movements,[4] making them searchable via geolocation query.
[citation needed] A variety of privacy advocacy groups including the ACLU[11] have worked to bring the domestic deployments of ARGUS and other WAPS systems into the public debate.
These cameras also work as transit choke-points that allow individuals inside the vehicle to be positively identified and license plate data to be collected and time stamped for cross reference with airborne Wide Area Persistent Surveillance Systems used by police.
[15][16] In early 2014, the ARGUS-IS achieved initial operating capability (IOC) with the U.S. Air Force as part of Gorgon Stare Increment 2, giving the MQ-9 Reaper the ability to survey an area of 100 km2 (39 sq mi).