Thursday, January 24, 2013

Rise of the Drones

Rise of the Drones


Nova: Rise of the Drones A quadrotor U.A.V., or unmanned aerial vehicle, in this program Wednesday night on PBS stations (check local listings)

Watched on PBS NOVA "Rise of the Drones" and didn't realize just how much the new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were being used.  It just seemed like yesterday that I interview for a job with Lockheed/Martin to build a drone. 

OH,OH that was back in 1983 just after I retired from the Navy with 26 years service.  Started another 20 years supporting the Pioneer Missions at NASA Ames Research Center instead.  :-)
- LRK -

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Rise of the Drones

Meet a new breed of flying robots, from tiny swarming vehicles to giant unmanned planes. 
Aired January 23, 2013 on PBS

Program Description

Drones. These unmanned flying robots–some as large as jumbo jets, others as small as birds–do things straight out of science fiction. Much of what it takes to get these robotic airplanes to fly, sense, and kill has remained secret. But now, with rare access to drone engineers and those who fly them for the U.S. military, NOVA reveals the amazing technologies that make drones so powerful as we see how a remotely-piloted drone strike looks and feels from inside the command center. From cameras that can capture every detail of an entire city at a glance to swarming robots that can make decisions on their own to giant air frames that can stay aloft for days on end, drones are changing our relationship to war, surveillance, and each other. And it's just the beginning. Discover the cutting edge technologies that are propelling us toward a new chapter in aviation history as NOVA gets ready for "Rise of the Drones."

[WATCH THE PROGRAM - link on webpage. 52:52 min - LRK -]
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This works for me as well - http://video.pbs.org/video/2326108547 
- LRK -
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You may want to read this New York Times article about the NOV "Rise of the Drones" that aired 1/23/2013.
- LRK -

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Questioning Its Marvels and Morals

By 
Published: January 22, 2013

Welcoming President Obama to his second term, PBS has scheduled “Rise of the Drones,” an examination of one of the more controversial items on his agenda, as Wednesday night’s installment of “Nova.”

Though the program’s focus is technology rather than politics or military ethics, and it has the peppy, isn’t-science-great tone typical of “Nova,” it doesn’t ignore the debate surrounding America’s extensive use of remotely piloted aircraft to launch covert missile attacks on targets in Pakistan and other countries. Experts in military design and tactics point out that no one really knows how many civilians are being killed by the strikes and that the bloodless nature of the drone allows the United States to carry out a major air war without calling it a war.

But rather than dwelling on such questions, “Rise of the Drones” quickly moves on to its next gee-whiz moment. If the problem is that the drones’ pilots can make mistakes because they have too narrow a field of view, check out the new Argus camera: 1.8 billion pixels, able to show an entire small city while simultaneously zooming in on up to 65 individual spots and picking out objects as small as six inches long.

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Nova
Rise of the Drones
On PBS stations on Wednesday night (check local listings).

Produced by Pangloss Films LLC for Nova/WGBH. Written, directed and produced by Peter Yost; Paula S. Apsell, senior executive producer for Nova.
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And will the use of drones increase?
See the Miami Herald - 1/24/13 article for some recent UN action..
- LRK -

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UN plans to use spy drones over eastern Congo

BY PETER JAMES SPIELMANN

ASSOCIATED PRESS

UNITED NATIONS -- The Security Council has approved the use of surveillance drones over eastern Congo to monitor roving militias so it can more effectively deploy U.N. peacekeepers.

A letter released Thursday from the president of the Security Council to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the council members note the robot spy planes will be used "on a case-by-case basis" and will not set a precedent for the U.N.'s general consideration of "legal, financial and technical implications of the use of unmanned aerial systems."

The letter from Pakistan U.N. Ambassador Masood Khan, who holds the rotating Security Council presidency, was released as a U.N. expert launched a special investigation into drone warfare and targeted killings, which the United States relies on as a front-line weapon in its global war against al-Qaida.
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And in science fiction.
- LRK -

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Eyes 
 Flying remote-operated surveillance drones.

Eyes were used to monitor the movements of dangerous animals, prevent or respond to crime and assist in providing disaster aid.

...When six or seven of my hundred-thirty eyes flickered, then saw again, and the music was suddenly washed away by a wave of static, it was then that I began to feel uneasy. 
I called Weather Central for a report, and the recorded girlvoice told me that seasonal rains were expected in the afternoon or early evening. I hung up and switched an eye from ventral to dorsal-vision...
I sent my eyes on their rounds and tended my gallery of one hundred-thirty changing pictures, on the big wall of the Trouble Center, there atop the Watch Tower of Town Hall...
My eyes, coasting weightless along magnetic lines, began to blink. 
I knew then that we were in for something. 
I sent an eye scurrying off toward Saint Stephen's at full speed, which meant a wait of about twenty minutes until it topped the range. Another, I sent straight up, skywards, which meant perhaps ten minutes for a long shot of the same scene. Then I put the auto-scan in full charge of operations and went downstairs for a cup of coffee.

The eyes also had guns mounted on them that could be fired remotely.

Here's another explanatory excerpt:
And he's a Hell Cop. Probably the worst possible job for him, having to keep up his attention in one place for so long. They say the job title comes from the name of an antique flying vehicle--a hellcopper, I think. We send our eyes on their appointed rounds, and they can hover or soar or back up, just like those old machines could. We patrol the city and the adjacent countryside. Law enforcement isn't much of a problem on Cyg. We never peek in windows or send an eye into a building without an invitation. Our testimony is admissible in court--or, if we're fast enough to press a couple buttons, the tape that we make does an even better job--and we can dispatch live or robot cops in a hurry, depending on which will do a better job.
Published by Not Known in 1966
Additional resources 

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Hmmm, and to think I said send in the robots.  How are your X-Box skills. Will your AI programs have morals?
- LRK -
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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