When Big Brother watches...
... he'll do so with technology developed in Hood River.
Hood Tech's early 800-gm stabilized video turrets created demand for an entirely new class of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Image quality delivered at that time would be considered primitive today. A decade later, customer expectations have escalated; NIIRS image-quality metrics are now being applied.According to Hood Tech's Dr. Andy von Flotow, "NIIRS 8 imagery is no longer enough to stay ahead of expectations; we are now recognizing faces and reading license plates from stand-off ranges beyond audible detectability. To achieve this, we have developed new imagers and have completely reinvented our stabilization methods. Our stabilization is now good enough that we can select a specific door when pointing a laser."
Wow. Fantastic. Way to go, Dr. Andy von Flotow. If only Tom Lehrer were still working, he could write you a little tune. "Drone" rhymes so well with "you're never alone."
| Posted at 10:46 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (7)
Don't laugh, I can already see Randy Jr (Novick)trying to use these for code violations.
Posted by Steve | July 26, 2012 12:55 PM
You should see how uber secure the Dalles has become since Google.gov moved their spy center there.
Posted by Tim | July 26, 2012 1:53 PM
It's interesting how ingrained the defense budget is in our heads. I'm not saying this guy is hooked in with that, but the idea of drones sure is.
Have you noticed how even the loudest critics of big government spending, usually fall to one knee to genuflect before the defense budget? Even though, in recent times, our defense budget was bigger than the defense budgets of all the other countries of the world combined.
But that's the message everyone seems programmed to spout: If you're against the defense budget, you're against America.
Meanwhile, it's just another corporate takeover of the nation - the sway of these big companies over the government...so what happens?
We fight unnecessary wars and develop drones that take out people in countries we're not at war with - not just terrorists either, but who's around them, too.
And what's the end result of our lack of action? What's the result of not standing up and saying this defense budget is wrong?
Well, these same weapons developed to patrol the skies of foreign lands, are brought back to America to be used on me and you.
We're building our own cages here. Oh, and the America that the massive defense budget was supposed to protect - that's disappearing. Almost as if the whole idea of protecting America was a ruse - a cover to destroy it.
The military industrial complex is a snake and we're getting more fang for the buck.
Okay, that was stupid. Time for a nap.
Let me just say America used to mean driving your car down the road with some great music on, knowing you were free. If a drone is overhead, monitoring your movements, that changes everything.
Posted by Bill McDonald | July 26, 2012 1:56 PM
The thing that really scares me is that under FISA there is no judicial oversight over the kind of surveillance these things can do. Forget about driving down the road and being spied upon, and start worrying about them watching every move you make inside your own home.
Posted by Usual Kevin | July 26, 2012 4:28 PM
Let me just say America used to mean driving your car down the road with some great music on, knowing you were free. If a drone is overhead, monitoring your movements, that changes everything.
America asleep at the wheel, when awaken, everything had been changed!
Posted by clinamen | July 26, 2012 7:31 PM
"Dr. Andy von Flotow" sounds like a comic book villian.
Posted by Jo | July 26, 2012 7:36 PM
Awaken? Who? When? Where?
Anyway, the last time I felt free was driving to the coast along Hwy 34 listening to Neil Diamond singing Cracklin' Rosie" in my'71 Peugeot. That was '74. Then the oil crisis...
Posted by starbuck | July 26, 2012 7:37 PM