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posted by janrinok on Tuesday June 26 2018, @09:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the eye-in-the-sky dept.

Over recent years, more than 30 Chinese military and government agencies have been reportedly using drones made to look like birds to surveil China's citizens in at least five provinces, according to the South China Morning Post Sunday.

The program is reportedly codenamed "Dove" and run by Song Bifeng, a professor at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an. Song was formerly a senior scientist on the Chengdu J-20, Asia's first fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, according to the Post.

The bird-like drones mimic the flapping wings of a real bird using a pair of crank-rockers driven by an electric motor. Each drone has a high-definition camera, GPS antenna, flight control system and data link with satellite communication capability, according to the Post.

While the "scale is still small", according to Yang Wenqing, a member of  Song's team in a comment to the Post, the researchers "believe the technology has good potential for large-scale use in the future ... it has some unique advantages to meet the demand for drones in the military and civilian sectors."


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @12:45AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @12:45AM (#699050)

    TFA

    One experiment in northern China’s Inner Mongolia involved flying the birds over a flock of sheep – animals that are well known for their keen sense of hearing and ability to be easily spooked. The flock paid no attention whatsoever to the drone flying above, the person said

    With hi-res camera, GPS and satellite link, I think the technology is already ripe against North American sheeple.

  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday June 27 2018, @01:35AM

    by frojack (1554) on Wednesday June 27 2018, @01:35AM (#699067) Journal

    Sheep are only afraid of noise on the ground. Dragons having gone missing for several thousand years.

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.