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Mini Drone Detects Breathing and Motion

garymortimer writes "The Phoenix 40-A mini-UAV system is capable of performing dual functions as a motion detector as well as probing for breathing of a hiding person in a compound. The mini-UAV can be remotely controlled at long standoff distances from ground or an airborne asset. In addition to the programmed, GPS-guided multi-waypoint visits, the integrated video cameras allow for day and night landing and monitoring of a premises under surveillance for enhanced situational awareness."

63 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Flying robocops... by bennomatic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What could possibly go wrong?

    --
    The CB App. What's your 20?
  2. Hunter Seeker by Bottles · · Score: 1

    Paul Atreides would be able to handle one of these. After a good mouthful of spice, obviously.

    1. Re:Hunter Seeker by ThunderBird89 · · Score: 1

      Dammit, beat me to it!

      Though he didn't actually need the spice, it just made him zone out and stand still until the seeker emerged. It was Thufir's training that let him grab it as it went for the Fremen maid.

      --
      Hyperbole: I use it liberally!
    2. Re:Hunter Seeker by zippthorne · · Score: 1

      It was because of the training that he was able to stand still enough that it couldn't acquire him, too.

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  3. Re:Obligatory by cdibbs · · Score: 1
  4. Better killing machines by Cheech+Wizard · · Score: 1

    Just what we need. Better killing machines...

    1. Re:Better killing machines by couchslug · · Score: 1

      There will ALWAYS be a need to kill. It's how humans resolve problems, and it trumps everything else.

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    2. Re:Better killing machines by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      There will ALWAYS be a need to kill. It's how humans resolve problems, and it trumps everything else.

      It's not the only way though, you clown.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    3. Re:Better killing machines by stewbacca · · Score: 2

      Something tells me you don't understand the importance of situation awareness, which is the entire point of this system. Should we ban radars and radios, while we are at it, since those are nothing other than sophisticated killing machines?

  5. Re:fabulous... by kitsunewarlock · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A device that can help us find lost people, victims in disaster areas and potentially dangerous criminals seems doesn't sound like anything but trying to solve new problems.
    But I'll be the first to admit that the article scared the ever living crap out of me. If I was some kind of rogue agent sent to blahblahdystopianrebelsblahblahblah I'm sure I'd be really scared too.

    --
    Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
  6. Re:How does it detect breathing? by drpimp · · Score: 1

    I would agree I don't see it say anything about heat signature. Sounds like it should say, movement and/or movement FROM breathing?

    --
    -- Brought to you by Carl's JR
  7. Could it find buried earthquake victims? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2

    Well, at least there might be a civilian use for this critter.

    Meanwhile, the sniffer dogs union has protested, and threatened to trot away from the next catastrophe, unless they are guaranteed job security and human legs to hump.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    1. Re:Could it find buried earthquake victims? by couchslug · · Score: 1

      "unless they are guaranteed job security and human legs to hump."

      Works for me. Where do I sign up?

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  8. Robert Sheckley thought of this by orient · · Score: 1

    I remember Robert Sheckley's "Guard-Bird" (1953).

    --
    Laudele lor desigur m-ar mahni peste masura.
    1. Re:Robert Sheckley thought of this by orient · · Score: 1

      And here's the link I forgot to add: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29579

      --
      Laudele lor desigur m-ar mahni peste masura.
  9. the future by leoaloha · · Score: 1, Informative

    and Skynet gets closer .......

    1. Re:the future by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Meh, we're more likely to all die from an engineered virus than by sentient machines.

      Thanks, that's reassuring to know.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  10. Gee by tomthepom · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Sigh. Yet another sales blurb from the defence industry making it to the front page of Slashdot. Really, where is the geek interest here? Or am I meant to channel Sarah Connor and murmur darkly about skynet every time someone comes up with yet another variation on a radio controlled aircraft?

    1. Re:Gee by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1

      Or am I meant to channel Sarah Connor and murmur darkly about skynet

      Channel her? No, we want you to bonk her, and get the resistance started.

      --
      Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  11. Just another tool... by lexsird · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's just another tool, the question is who will get to use it? I am sure that in societies such as Briton's, where they have wide coverage of CC cameras, and people don't feel their privacy violated enough versus the security gained, these tools will find a place. Just a speculation. Already we have had American law enforcement want the use of Predator drones. There was a case of them wanting it in Florida, but the FAA or something was having problems with it flying around in busy airspace.

    On the other hand, as wonderful of a gizmo as this might seem, it's going to fall prey to a technically proficient enemy or criminal at some point. A few things come to mind, one is how do you sneak up on anyone if they are able to detect an RF signal? Falling prey to being jammed at best, cracked at worse, also comes to mind.

    Like them or not, drones are here to stay I think, sans the planet becoming saturated in some kind of solar based electromagnetic energy that renders known RF moot. Here is something for the truly paranoid among us to ponder. With the push for even more coverage and faster broadband mobile networking, how long before entire fleets of drones could be made, launched and controlled? I was watching the commercial of the kid with a 4G phone dangling from his RC helicopter and thinking of how this would make a wonderful network to control a drone army from.

    --
    Take the Red Pill.
    1. Re:Just another tool... by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 1

      ...Here is something for the truly paranoid among us to ponder. With the push for even more coverage and faster broadband mobile networking, how long before entire fleets of drones could be made, launched and controlled?

      ...And subsequently launched against everyone's wireless router, taking out the entire Internet for an area in one action?

      "I know I'm paranoid" said the Prince. "The question is, am I paranoid enough?

      --
      Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
    2. Re:Just another tool... by Tim+C · · Score: 1

      I am sure that in societies such as Briton's

      I am a Briton because I was born and live in Britain.

    3. Re:Just another tool... by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      I am sure that in societies such as Briton's, where they have wide coverage of CC cameras, and people don't feel their privacy violated enough versus the security gained, these tools will find a place.

      Many of us here in Britain don't quite understand how having CCTV cameras on public roads amounts to a violation of privacy. Contrary to the impression US slashdotters seem to have, they don't actually monitor inside people's houses.

      If people fight, cause criminal damage or whatever in a public place, tough luck if they're stupid enough to get caught on a CCTV camera.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  12. mea culpa by mevets · · Score: 1

    oops. I didn't read the article. Two days after another questionable military assault has started, I could only think of one application.

    I apologize to the little toadies, and hope you save many lives with this. Can I control it from my iPhone?

    1. Re:mea culpa by Rakishi · · Score: 2

      Even in military usage it seems a good thing, war and the resulting dead civilians will never go away but more information would prevent killing civilians as often.

      The real problem for such technology is in domestic surveillance and the ever present move toward a police state.

    2. Re:mea culpa by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1

      but more information would prevent killing civilians as often.

      s/would/should/

      Back in reality, I don't think our Drone Wars ratio of terrorists/civilians killed is something our Administration and Pentagon want to brag about.

      --
      Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    3. Re:mea culpa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I apologize to the little toadies, and hope you save many lives with this.

      Please don't apologise to them. "Rescuing people after disasters" is always trotted out as an excuse for developing military technology - but how many drones were deployed in Japan? Zero. How many have been deployed in Afghanistan and Pakistan? More than 7,000. (And that report is two years out of date.)

      Incidentally, it's cute of the press release to choose the word 'compound', which suggests a foreign location, rather than the word 'house', which might make the readers reflect on future applications of this technology in their own neighbourhoods.

    4. Re:mea culpa by stewbacca · · Score: 2

      Cool stuff always starts as military and/or space technology, duh.

      Care to cite zero drone flights in Japan? Because I know an entire military unit in Las Vegas that is doing nothing but 24/7 drone operations in Japan.

  13. Re:How does it detect breathing? by DsrtEgl50 · · Score: 2

    Most of the literature I've read regarding STW and STTW radar monitors the doppler shift on the return signal looking for a periodic ~3 to 6Hz signal corresponding to the typical respiration rate of humans. When found, the source area is flagged for more precise imaging. The motion of breathing is usually subtle enough to be skipped by larger scale motion detection algorithms, and is labeled differently accordingly.

  14. How about by mevets · · Score: 1

    There will always be a desire to kill. Its how humans avoid resolving problems, and the wealthy (Trump - get it :) stay in power.

    1. Re:How about by davester666 · · Score: 1

      No, killing doesn't avoid resolving the problem. It would be the ultimate resolution of a problem between two people.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    2. Re:How about by dougisfunny · · Score: 1

      It's my nature said the scorpion to the toad.

      --
      This is not the funny you're looking for.
  15. I feel slightly Ill... by unil_1005 · · Score: 4, Funny

    My mammy always taught me it is impolite to kill somebody you have not been properly introduced to.

  16. Re:How does it detect breathing? by DsrtEgl50 · · Score: 1

    That should be 1/3 - 1/6 Hz signal, ~3 to 6 seconds/breath.

  17. So, what you are saying is that... by denzacar · · Score: 1

    If you breathe without a rhythm you won't attract the drone?

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  18. Re:Seems a bit wacky to me by home-electro.com · · Score: 1

    Can it be spoofed? What if I attach enough meet chunks in front of me, and possibly have some device that would move the chunk in sync with my breathing in opposite direction?

  19. Re:How does it detect breathing? by mangu · · Score: 1

    Most of the literature I've read regarding STW and STTW radar monitors the doppler shift on the return signal looking for a periodic ~3 to 6Hz signal corresponding to the typical respiration rate of humans

    Doppler shift of what? To detect breathing, you would have to detect the very faint movement of the human diaphragm. Through a wall.

    The best analogy I can come up with right now is this: imagine the TSA guy wearing boxing gloves while he gropes you and trying to discover if you are wearing long johns underneath your corduroy jeans.

  20. These People MUST Be Watching Movies by IonOtter · · Score: 2

    They're watching all the end-of-humanity movies to make sure they get their killer robots right.

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    [End Of Line]
    1. Re:These People MUST Be Watching Movies by Memroid · · Score: 1

      I wonder when the indoor model is being released: http://movieclips.com/Vpwa-minority-report-movie-spider-robots/

  21. Fukushima? by democrates · · Score: 2

    TEPCO workers can't see what's going on in those reactor buildings without taking huge personal risk.

    If they used something like this to survey they'd know where to aim the fire hoses instead of waiting until there's another plume of smoke from the spent cores they're missing. Just saying.

    1. Re:Fukushima? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      TEPCO workers can't see what's going on in those reactor buildings without taking huge personal risk.

      If they used something like this to survey they'd know where to aim the fire hoses instead of waiting until there's another plume of smoke from the spent cores they're missing. Just saying.

      I find it hard to believe that in Japan of all places they haven't got state of the art robots to use instead of meat-heroes.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    2. Re:Fukushima? by democrates · · Score: 1

      Exactly, working in dangerous conditions such as nuclear plants is often touted as a good reason to fund robot development.

      Instead they gave us dancing robots http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZzLAsHiGHU

      We get the warm fuzzy feeling, but it's probably a fatal dose of radiation from the spent fuel rods that robots could have made safe.

  22. Oooo - Shiny! by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1

    Now we can kill civilians without having to see them.

    FYI, we've been killing several hundred innocent bystanders a year with our drones. (People were delighted that last year was down 25% from the previous year. Unfortunately the total for that previous year was 440, so we "only" killed 330 innocent bystanders in a "good" year.)

    Won't be long 'till we've killed as many innocent people with drones as OBL's thugs killed on 9/11.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    1. Re:Oooo - Shiny! by couchslug · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Now we can kill civilians without having to see them."

      Conventional artillery called, and is offended at being left out of the discussion!

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    2. Re:Oooo - Shiny! by smash · · Score: 1

      If you count nuking Japan in ww2 you already did. Also countless CIA sponsored wars which are in part the root cause of 9/11

      --
      I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
  23. A Life-Signs Detector! by kingramon0 · · Score: 1

    "We can name it later!"

  24. Re:How does it detect breathing? by DsrtEgl50 · · Score: 1

    Doppler shift of the signal against the expanding and contracting thorax. Through static media which can be largely calculated out. Movement of 2 to 7mm is significant enough to detect with a precision UWB STTW radar system, and even easier when it's periodic.

  25. Would make a great headline for The Onion: by porky_pig_jr · · Score: 2

    mini drone detects breathing and motion, kills puppy.

  26. I love the USA by Swampash · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If there's a technology that can be used for surveillance of its own citizens, the US will throw unlimited resources at it. Cure for cancer? Mission to Mars? Not so much.

  27. Re:How does it detect breathing? by engun · · Score: 1

    Hmm... Interesting! Thanks for the reply.

  28. It was just... by akayani · · Score: 1

    sex... I didn't expect we would get blown-up over it.

  29. Kitt! I need to scan the building for life signs! by ed1park · · Score: 1

    So we are getting closer to a Knight Rider type technology. Hopefully you can use this tech to rescue people from collapsed buildings too like in Japan right now.

  30. Re:fabulous... by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 1

    or, having once found the person, drop a sticky grenade on him. Ewww.... boom.

    --
    Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
  31. Green Hornet...Speed Racer by cstacy · · Score: 1

    Green Hornet had these drones in the 1960s, and Speed Racer in the 1970s; both launched the drones from their cars.

    1. Re:Green Hornet...Speed Racer by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Green Hornet had these drones in the 1960s, and Speed Racer in the 1970s; both launched the drones from their cars.

      Well Doctor Who had time travel in the 1960s, the fact it's fictional being perhaps the only obstacle to its widespread adoption.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  32. Too much trouble! by dheltzel · · Score: 1

    They should just ask Commander Data to scan the building for life signs.

  33. Ahh, smell the freedom! by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 1

    But take small, shallow breaths and don't move.

    1. Re:Ahh, smell the freedom! by Geminii · · Score: 1

      Orwelltech CO2 detector sees you, citizen.

  34. Awesome...on cops by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

    Now you wont even see any chace seen, all you will see is this drone zooming in on a crouched criminal in some dark alley way in splinter cell mode, with night vision enabled, it would be cool for this to actually happen a few times and make the bad guys know they can run, but cant hide....might lower a bit the crime rate, no?

    1. Re:Awesome...on cops by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Now you wont even see any chace seen, all you will see is this drone zooming in on a crouched criminal in some dark alley way in splinter cell mode, with night vision enabled, it would be cool for this to actually happen a few times and make the bad guys know they can run, but cant hide....might lower a bit the crime rate, no?

      Why no just let the police shoot one in five of the criminals they catch? I expect that would lower the crime rate for a while too.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  35. Re:fabulous... by tehcyder · · Score: 1

    A device that can help us find lost people, victims in disaster areas and potentially dangerous criminals seems doesn't sound like anything but trying to solve new problems. .

    And similarly, nuclear weapons can be used to blow up incoming asteroids or plug volcanoes.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  36. Re:I got caught having sex by tehcyder · · Score: 1

    Last night I was caught having sex with the wife by one of these drones. Now the video is on tubeyou without my permission. To add insult to injury I have been automatically added to facebook.

    You're OK, the video is over so quickly no one realises what's going on apart from some giggling.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  37. Pantywaists by stewbacca · · Score: 1

    For all off you citizens of Namby Pamby land out there...who cares what the civilian purpose of this device is? It has a military purpose--situational awareness--that justifies its existence.