[expat1000]

Full Title: The incredible U.S. military spy drone that's so powerful it can see what type of phone you're carrying from 17,500ft

[expat1000]

That tremendous level of detail makes it sensitive enough to not only track people moving around on the ground thousands of feet below, but even to see what they are doing or carrying. The ARGUS array sends its live feed to the ground where it connects to a touch-screen command room interface. Using this, operators can zoom in to any area within the camera's field of view, with up to 65 zoom windows open at once. Each video window is electronically steerable independent of the others, and can either provide continuous imagery of a fixed area on the ground or be designated to automatically keep a specified target in the window.

[expat1000]

ping

[Ray76]

30,000 drones roughs out to a 10sq mi grid over the 48, well within the capabilities reported for this drone.

Land of the free is becoming a giant open air super max.

[gunsequalfreedom]

they can probably tell the date on a dime

[Seizethecarp]

More detail on ARGUS:

“The system automatically tracks any moving object it can see, including both vehicles and individuals on foot, highlighting them with coloured boxes so they can be easily identified.

“It also records everything, storing an approximate million terabytes of data a day - the equivalent of 5,000 hours of high-definition video footage.

“’So you can go back and say I’d like to see what happened at this particular location three days, two hours [and] four minutes ago, and it will actually show you what happened as if you were watching it live,’ said Mr Antoniades.”

[Seizethecarp]

My recent post on ARGUS:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2981309/posts

“Here is the FR thread on the NOVA program, which was very informative. The Predator drone’s inventor is interviewed and the Predator insides are extensively revealed in addition to demonstration of the ARGUS system.

“Rise of the Drones (PBS NOVA Wed Jan 23 9PM EST)”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2980837/posts

2 posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013 2:07:28 AM by Seizethecarp

[Jack Hydrazine]

Can you hear me now???

[Gasshog]

Yeah well the Big Guy Upstairs is watching the drones watching us.

Who shall I fear?

[TigersEye]

Through cloud cover?

[Nailbiter]

To mess with the people watching - put your cell phone in your shoe-

[Chance Hart]

Why do I have the feeling that mirrored reflective material based Umbrellas are going to be the new rage? Hmmmmm Great potential for the inventive type. Think of the thousands of new jobs!

[Casie]

I remember the joy I felt when I discovered that the new Google maps pic of my house was taken in the summer and my little 2 story home in the woods is virtually invisible. The mailbox way out on the highway gives me away though. Its a real shame about domestic drone use. Hard to believe our own tax dollars are being spent to track us like sheep. This technology should be delegated for non domestic military use only.

[trailboss800]

Can it see my middle finger?

[The Working Man]

Two Words: Information Overload.

This can have a paralyzing effect on real-time actions, just as having too little information can do the same.

[ops33]

Interesting that the article states the altitude as 17,500 feet, 500 feet below the lowest usable flight level.

[fattigermaster]

There are now UAVs that have the capability to hover right in front of your head like a hummingbird, shoot a .22LR into your brain, and fly away. Enemies of the state begin dying like flies in unsolved homicides.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2970580/posts

[steve86]

System does not have nearly a large enough effective aperture using visible light to distinguish a cell phone type or even discriminate between a phone or type of another device. In fact, the phone would fall within a single pixel.