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Government

Worried? New Drone-Mounted Camera Can Tell What You’re Wearing From 17,500 Feet

Jan. 29, 2013 9:57am Liz Klimas

A new camera developed by the Pentagon’s research arm was highlighted in a recent special on PBS’ “Nova” in an episode called “Rise of the Drones.” It’s a camera system so detailed it can discern specific movements and even what a subject is wearing.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System (ARGUS) has 1.8 billion pixels (1.8 gigapixels), making it the world’ highest resolution camera. The sensors on the camera are so precise, PBS stated it is the equivalent to the capabilities of 100 Predator drones in a medium city.

In the clip from PBS, it is said this is the first time the government has allowed information to be shared about these capabilities.

“It is important for the public to know that some of these capabilities exist,” Yiannis Antonaides with contractor BAE Systems said in the clip, but noted the sensor itself cannot be revealed. “Because we are not allowed to expose some of the pieces that make up this sensor, so you get to look a pretty plastic curtains.”

The technology allows the user to open up a specific windows of interest in the camera’s view while still keeping up an image of the larger picture (sort of like split screen). Antonaides explained that the colored boxes in the image show that the sensor recognized moving objects.

PBS NOVA Details DARPAs 1.8 Gigapixel ARGUS Camera System

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

“You can see individuals crossing the street. You can see individuals walking in parking lots. There’s actually enough resolution to see the people waving their arms or walking around or what kind of clothes they wear,” he said.

PBS noted that ARGUS can actually see much more details than just attire. It can see objects as small as six inches. At 2:23 in the clip, Antonaides points out that from 17,500 feet, a white object in the field of view is a bird flying.

Here’s how DARPA describes its project on its website:

Current infrared systems either have a narrow field of view, slow frame rates or are low resolution. DARPA’s Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance – Infrared (ARGUS-IR) program will break this paradigm by producing a wide-field-of-view IR imaging system with frame rates and resolution that are compatible with the tracking of dismounted personnel at night. ARGUS-IR will provide at least 130 independently steerable video streams to enable real-time tracking of individual targets throughout the field of view. The ARGUS-IR system will also provide continuous updates of the entire field of view for enhanced situational awareness.

This image shows Quantico, Va.(Image: DARPA)

Watch this clip from PBS’s NOVA special:

PBS pointed out that DARPA put a time crunch on creating the camera, which lead Antonaides to look into technology that you probably have in your purse or pocket at this very moment. Taking similar imaging systems used in smartphones and putting 368 together, is essentially how Antonaides and other engineers at BAE Systems created ARGUS. It is this “mosaic” of cameras that allows the system to zoom in on specific sections in extreme detail.

This camera, like those from cellphones, is what help ARGUS achieve its high level of detail. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

As for data, the system stores up to 1 million terabytes a day. Putting this into perspective, PBS notes this is equal to 5,000 hours of HD footage.

“You can go back and say ‘I would like to know what happened at this particular location three days, two hours, four minutes ago’ and it would actually show you what happened as if you were watching it live,” Antonaides said.

It is still classified information whether ARGUS has been used in the field yet.

“If we had our choice, we would like ARGUS to be over the same area 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That’s not very achievable with manned platforms. This is where UAVs come in and they’re absolutely the perfect platform,” Antonaides said.

On this helicopter is the pod where ARGUS is mounted. (Photo: DARPA)

The ARGUS imaging system can be mounted on a range of drone types.

Here’s NOVA’s full episode:

Watch Rise of the Drones on PBS. See more from NOVA.

(H/T: Business Insider)

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Comments (107)

fahdie
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 4:52pm
The Pakistan You Don’t See In The News

http://tamak-toyian.pk/2013/02/06/the-pakistan-you-dont-see-in-the-news/

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Jaracing2
Posted on February 5, 2013 at 9:42pm
Long ago it was said “Big Brother Is Watching You”. Guess what he has been for a long time but some didnt pay attention , they were caught up in there day to day lives and slowly have lost was freedom. We live in time where we are going too pay for years of doing nothing about it somebody was asleep at he wheel.

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509Ptrooper
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 3:45pm
They gotta land sometime, and when they do………….

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Bohump
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 9:38am
Big Brother IS watching you, .. And he,s Packing !

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katzkiner
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 4:12am
A professor at the University of Texas hi jacked one of their unjackable drones last year. When they start crashing back into your bunkers you will realize your not in the Stan anymore. Have fun terrorizing the peasants, it won’t last. Payback will a ………..! Messing with Americans is like slapping a grizzly. We’ve about had enough.

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Chancellor
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 1:16am
Just remember they are controlled like the radio controlled toys. Get a jammer and they have to revert to a computer program to take them back to base and land.

The Iranians brought one down with a mircowave generator. his also should teach everyone that if the SHTF don’t head for the hills…….Hide in the cities kinda hard for them to pick you out after you run into a building with a 1000 other people and change your clothes.

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- Metalstr8jckt
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 6:33am
  @CHANCELLOR: You believe an urban location is your best option in a mass civilian National emergency? In a high rise? I suppose throwing a chair out the window twenty floors up and leaping to your death to avoid incineration is an option-NYC Towers I and II. Big city, no fresh water, food,sanitation communicable diseases in close proximity.
  
  Multiple potential assailants many psychotic people-Downtown bus station locations, and the original homeless aware that thousands are on equal footing with them now. Yeah okay big cities are safe.
  
  Rural area: Farms, water, food,…….make friends with country folk now, while there is still relative peace. when SHTF They will be in defense mode at those trespassing against them. Friends are good.
  Do not expect every Farmer/Rancher to be a Samaritan.
  
  Report this comment
cosmic dogma
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 12:44am
Maybe I should work out more, heard the camera puts on 10 pounds…

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P4cooler
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 7:23pm
I can see these guys watching girls at the beach in summertime.

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media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 5:45pm
So if you are a drug dealer, or a bad guy extremist thinking about doing naughty things, you don’t think a computer can not sit there and chew on the data collected over several days, and figure out what cars have been where?

You think they can’t put a crime scene geographic location in a computer program that reverse engineers what cars have been to that location over the past several weeks, and where did those cars travel to?

The future of technology will create virtual time machines with technology like this, that allows law enforcement and the military to produce the data they need to apprehend criminals who otherwise think they got a way with a crime with no one seeing them? They might not be able to predict where crime will occur, but they can figure out what happened with tools like this?

This kind of power should not be left to a cherry picking media, you have to stay engaged, you have to stand for civil rights, otherwise this technology will destroy you, rather than work for you?

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DefyTYRANNY
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 5:27pm
My grandma, what big eyes you have!

If they want to know what fashion accessories I am wearing, I’ll freely tell them. Oakley sunglasses, a Matte black G shock, and a Gen 4 Glock 17 with three 17 round mags full of hollowpoint ammo.

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Nevermind
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 3:43pm
GhostOfJefferson
” Kind of like Stealth fighters, they have been around since the 800′s”

Those crafty Romans! :)

Yeah, that’s true, if you see it today, it’s part of a publicity tour meant for public consumption, no question.
*****

Thanks Ghost, i typed an extra zero but you got the point at least Stealth fighters have been around since the 1980′s but the public saw them in what 1991?

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PK_SEA
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 2:46pm
Time to fit curtains on the skylights.

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THX-1138
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 1:37pm
Is anyone marketing SDM’s (Surface to Drone Missles) yet? I want to place an order…

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crystalsky
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 1:31pm
now we know why these military drills are going on in each city. putting out drones. for big sis. Al Jezerra owns current T.V. Twilight in America is a book or will there be a diffrent flag fly over the USA The nations are uniting with or without us.
All the talk about constitution yet we let them take are freedom everyday. All those people that are in the offices and Goverment probably knew but no 1 stood up. It is not for the people it is for there pockets. This may shock many but the masses are like sheep to the slaughter You can still repent and turn from your wicked ways through Christ or when the judgement comes you will be bowing down to the antichrist You will not buy or sell with out the mark. Don’t take it God won’t forgive it. Learn the end times know in the bible. It is coming true Christ is the word. There arresting people for the smart meters and know there putting drones everywhere for legal citizens protection they say. Jesus says repent and turn from your sins. There will be no rest for the wicked. You can worship Christ or you will worship the anti Christ. But all and all you will worship the man who will deceive many The anti-Christ,false prophet and satan the evil trinty. You will be oppressed it will be worse than our eyes have ever seen. Listen or read the bible see all the prophecy coming true why you still can. Christians are being slaughtered and jailed. you say I am not christian so I am safe. No you are not safe.Don’t take the mark.

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- DefyTYRANNY
  Posted on January 29, 2013 at 5:30pm
  Those military “drills” are not exactly drills, they are displays of power.
  
  Report this comment
Realitychic
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 1:05pm
What this article missed in adding to this content: re: the drone that ‘went down’ in Iran or Syria that was slightly reported on national news. I watched this Nova show. They brought up that drone and how it had to have been ‘overtaken’ because it was fully intact. They are run by computers- that can be hacked. That drone was hacked and now in the hands of Evil. An entirely new way to spy, attack etc- and also the threat of them being hacked and used against us. Oh joy!

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Priscilla King
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 12:31pm
Wow! Thanks for sharing.

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Nevermind
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 11:56am
The fact that they are showing the world they have this technology means it is old and they have something much better they are using now. This has been used for a long time along wiht many other things that would freak most out. I did business with a senior level FBI agent ( I mean very senior) and he tld me about technology years ago you folks are just learning about today but was in use for decades. Kind of like Stealth fighters, they have been around since the 800′s but the public found out abotu them in the 90′s. That just meant they had something better to use and showed the stealth fighter to the world to make some happy.

If you know about it now its been around for at least a decade. I have seen a camera used by the FBI in DC that can see thru a brick wall over a mile away and that was in 2005. It was being used to spy on vehilce chop shops at the time in DC

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on January 29, 2013 at 1:32pm
  ” Kind of like Stealth fighters, they have been around since the 800′s”
  
  Those crafty Romans! :)
  
  Yeah, that’s true, if you see it today, it’s part of a publicity tour meant for public consumption, no question.
  
  Report this comment
Gargent_Furball
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 11:39am
and there you have it. I own a drone and darn proud of it .

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Gargent_Furball
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 11:37am
Can they read my SS # and drivers license ? How about we all give the finger at the same time ?

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- Metalstr8jckt
  Posted on January 29, 2013 at 4:26pm
  @GARGENT_FURBALL: Many State ID’s have embedded RFID chips. RFID transmission/reception data for military application or surveillance is an unknown. Is your sarcasm really well advised?
  
  A skilled scammer can obtain signals from key fobs to cars in parking lots, some Credit Card ID signals as well, and those are low-buck criminals.
  
  Yes funneeee.
  
  Report this comment
- Metalstr8jckt
  Posted on January 29, 2013 at 4:30pm
  @GARGENT_FURBALL; “Because so much is riding on your tires.” Michelin Tire slogan. Embedded RFID chip- DOT Mandate. Check your shorts…Grain of rice size RFID.
  
  Possibilities are endless in this brave new world.
  
  Report this comment
- DefyTYRANNY
  Posted on January 29, 2013 at 5:32pm
  You can stop the RFID signal from being scanned with a special wallet with stainless mesh sandwiched between the material. Pick one up from sportsmans guide.
  
  Report this comment
- Metalstr8jckt
  Posted on January 29, 2013 at 7:26pm
  @DEFYTYRANNY; Not all wallets will block the attenuated wavelength of the chip. There are some legit ones with real science behind them. Others simply lift cash from your current wallet.
  
  A search of the design needed to actually block RF will only entail about three minutes of reading, separating reality from fiction. No, a homemade one from an anti-static computer component bag won’t work.
  
  Report this comment
Remember_Benghazi
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 11:30am
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

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moreteaplease
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 11:23am
Supah_Patriot
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 10:27am

Don’t worry, you’re not that important to them. Having a gun doesn’t make you important, it just boosts your ego.
—————————-
So Liberals and Progressives must be carrying as well then.

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mbck1491
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 11:21am
Wait a minute. I thought they had satellites that could read a license plate from outer space, and yet they are spouting off about a drone that can do that from from flight level 180? Maybe it’s me, am I missing something here?

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on January 29, 2013 at 11:25am
  Quite clearly you are. Satellites that look at license plates only work on license plates, whereas Fashion Drones are aimed at your casual wear and formal wear attire. Duh. :)
  
  Report this comment
DougHuffman
Posted on January 29, 2013 at 11:16am
On information and belief, spy satellite cameras can read auto license plates from orbit.

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- Metalstr8jckt
  Posted on January 29, 2013 at 7:41pm
  @DougHoffman: Why read a potentially stolen license plate? On-Star? They can access your life with smart technology in your EFI, ECU, Controlled Marvel of Microchip Automotive Big Brother.
  
  Open the doors, disable the ignition, turn on 2 way audio inside the vehicle, vary throttle position on throttle by wire systems and finally, “adjust” your anti-lock brakes and accident avoidance/stability control system.
  Key fob access when you “lock” your car is open source too. The new preferred method for theft.
  Automotive publishers articles, showing hacks done to many 2008 and up vehicles The hackers are saying given enough time the tire pressure sensors operating off of Bluetooth could be potential access points.
  
  Report this comment
- Metalstr8jckt
  Posted on January 29, 2013 at 7:54pm
  @DOUGHUFFMAN: Are you one of those that also perpetuate the falsehood that The Great Wall of China is the only made man object visible from earth’s orbit with the naked eye?
  
  Satellite Tech visuals. Objects like buildings, Vehicle identification from pixel comparator. License plate reading, No.
  
  Report this comment

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