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China Launches High-Tech Bird Drones To Watch Over Its Citizens

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

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

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: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Wednesday June 27 2018, @04:53AM (2 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 27 2018, @04:53AM (#699135) Journal

    I'm calling BS.

    The max flying time for current (sep 2017) quadcopter models - about 30 mins [3dinsider.com].
    And the copter flying is inefficient, constantly pushing the air and never gliding.
    I call it plausible.

    The thing is clearly a toy.

    ISIS used much less sophisticated toys to drop grenades [nyti.ms]

    power sucking GPS

    GPS, in receiving mode, is not a power hog - on average, consumer grade, about 30mA @ 3.3V=10mW.

    data link with satellite communication capability

    In transmission, this is bound to actually suck at least some hundred of mW - definitely a drain.
    In receiving mode, not so much.

    camera

    Depending on the resolution - 2012 technology shows 4.5 nW/pixel [nih.gov]

    power sucking guidance computer

    mW range for the control functionality - some pretty nice applications for PID controllers, search "arduino PID balance", the entire control logic, sensors included, will go on a 50mW on generic Arduino controllers.
    Here are [youtube.com] are [youtube.com] some [youtube.com] examples.

    The flight itself will by the major energy consumer. Gliding helps.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 10 2018, @06:15PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 10 2018, @06:15PM (#705279)

    > 30mA @ 3.3V=10mW

    30 mA at 3.3 V = 99 mW

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 10 2018, @06:26PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 10 2018, @06:26PM (#705289) Journal

      Yeah, missing an order of magnitude.

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      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford