Video Surveillance is for the Birds
I have heard of a lot of different methods of obtaining video surveillance but this one is by far the coolest. The Nano Hummingbird, developed by AeroVironment, was featured as one of Time magazine’s 50 Best Inventions of 2011. It is a nano air vehicle that looks just like a hummingbird, with the copy so faithful that it even mimics the bird’s flying movements. With a small video camera inside, the Nano Hummingbird can be used for surveillance and hover for up to eight minutes.
It can maneuver in and out of doorways and can withstand 2-metre per second wind gusts from the side. The hummingbird has been in development since 2006, to specifications from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the US Department of Defense.
The applications for this kind of covert video surveillance are endless especially for the military and covert operations. The question is how and when will this technology transition into the public sector? Video surveillance is pretty covert as it is but there are still areas where you can at least feel that there are no prying eyes upon you like the mountains or the beach, or wide open spaces. Normally, a person can feel pretty alone in these environments or at least un-monitored unless they see a helicopter overhead. Imagine the new dimension where you can’t even trust the birds aren’t watching you.
I guess the days are really upon us where wearing tinfoil hats might actually be a viable option. People are watching but are they watching you? Unless you are doing something criminal, my guess is that they have bigger fish to fry than to watch someone eating their cereal and watching Saturday morning cartoons. Don’t get too comfortable, there may come a day when each one of us has their very own hummingbird assigned to watch over us.
Tags: video surveillance
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