DARPA shows off 1.8-gigapixel surveillance drone, can spot a person from 20,000 feet

[Fire Walk With Me]

Drones ‏@drones

DARPA shows off 1.8-gigapixel surveillance drone, can spot a person from 20,000 feet

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/146909-darpa-shows-off-1-8-gigapixel-surveillance-drone-can-spot-a-terrorist-from-20000-feet?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hnycombinator+%28HN+-+hnycombinator%29 …

DARPA and the US Army have taken the wraps off ARGUS-IS, a 1.8-gigapixel video surveillance platform that can resolve details as small as six inches from an altitude of 20,000 feet (6km). ARGUS is by far the highest-resolution surveillance platform in the world, and probably the highest-resolution camera in the world, period.

ARGUS, which would be attached to some kind of unmanned UAV (such as the Predator) and flown at an altitude of around 20,000 feet, can observe an area of 25 square kilometers (10sqmi) at any one time. If ARGUS was hovering over New York City, it could observe half of Manhattan. Two ARGUS-equipped drones, and the US could keep an eye on the entirety of Manhattan, 24/7.

It is the definition of “observe” in this case that will blow your mind, though. With an imaging unit that totals 1.8 billion pixels, ARGUS captures video (12 fps) that is detailed enough to pick out birds flying through the sky, or a lost toddler wandering around. These 1.8 gigapixels are provided via 368 smaller sensors, which DARPA/BAE says are just 5-megapixel smartphone camera sensors. These 368 sensors are focused on the ground via four image-stabilized telescopic lenses.

The end result, as you can see in the (awesome) video above, is a mosaic that can be arbitrarily zoomed. In the video, a BAE engineer zooms in from 17,500 feet to show a man standing in a parking lot doing some exercises. A white speck is a bird flying around. You can’t quite make out facial features or license plates (phew), but I wonder if that would be possible if ARGUS was used at a lower altitude (during a riot, say).

(Video and a little more text at the link.)

[grasswire]

1. thank God Mitt will not be at the controls of this obscenity.

Orwell was an optimist.

[Gin]

2. Jesus.....

Beam me up NOW Scotty!

[Arctic Dave]

3. I would think line of sight would be a problem still

Go around the corner and disappear.

[Angry Dragon]

4. Police State plus Big Brother

coming to a street corner near you

[Hatchling]

5. Hmmmm.

And "Person of Interest" is just a tv show.

[msongs]

6. they can name it the Obama Model nt

[longship]

7. The technology is basically benign.

It is how one uses it that determines the ethics.

I can think of many uses for so-called drones which nobody would see as bad. However, certainly the technology is ripe for use by spy agencies and the military.

We are going to have to live with technological advances, no matter what their use. Drone tech is inevitable. It's cheap and any geeky person can do it.

The tech isn't the problem. It's its use. How does one get one without the other?

That's the conundrum. If somebody has an answer to that question...

[antiquie]

8. TMI will do them in.

It appears they may be collecting so much data of every kind from everywhere they will not be able to find whatever it is that is necessitating this technology.