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For the uninformed, the federally funded Soft Walls Project has been a central focus of discussion since early 2002. In its simplest form, a "soft wall" is a term used to describe a buffer separating flight corridors and no fly zones. Autopilot systems would be programmed to prevent a pilot from flying into restricted airspace.

Koncelik likens the current preoccupation with The Soft Walls Project to that which prevailed when the nation was pursuing the Star Wars Missile Defense initiative. "We didn’t need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars pursuing Star Wars. No intercontinental ballistic missile can be launched without our knowing within a matter of a minutes that it is airborne and we could have very easily stationed aircraft, specifically U2s and SR71s, equipped with missiles to shoot them down before they reach their targets," he says.

“The problem with the ‘soft walls’ concept, according to Koncelik, is that it does not protect all US airspace. Instead, it focuses on protecting ‘high value, static targets’. As a consequence, the vast majority of the nation’s population as well as on and off shore assets will remain at risk.”

Koncelik insists that there is also a far simpler solution to the threat terrorism poses. Using GPS technologies, his patent provides for a pilot override that could easily interfaced with existing pilot control boxes that when activated allows tracking aircraft and/or ground controllers to assume control of the aircraft. "Remotely piloted vehicles have been around for years," Koncelik says, "so it isn’t like my patent requires a great deal of endless research. All we need to do is integrate existing technologies with the pilot override system I’ve patented."

Koncelik’s patent is one of five he currently holds. It can be viewed on the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s web site (www.uspto.gov). Just type his first and last name into the “Term 1" and “Term 2" fields and click on “Search”. To learn more about The Soft Walls Project visit http://softwalls.eecs.berkeley.edu/.

The author, Ron Scott, is a seasoned internet publicist who provides affordable public relationsservices to local, regional, national and international businesses.