Aside from the much discussed acquisition of big conventional weapons by India, a silent accretion has been the fleet of reconnaissance and “killer” unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), specifically aimed at neutralizing threats from Pakistan, and possibly China in the future.
Official sources have told Asia Times Online that if everything goes as planned, within the next two years India should possess a fleet of at least 25-30 attack UAVs compared to fewer than five now with such capabilities. Until now, India has never admitted to using the destroyer UAVs.
Experimental trials of retinal implants are showing promising results. Three companies are getting closer to commercial availability of retinal implants, that restore some sight to blind people. When these implants get more advanced they would probably have applications for people with normal sight. Enhanced vision capabilities, like geotracking apps and HUDs could become a reality in the coming decade.
Retinal Implant AG from Reutlingen, Germany has announced the results of the first human trial of its subretinal implant. Eleven patients who lost their sight due to retinitis pigmentosa received the implant through surgical transchoroidal implantation. Energy was delivered to the implant via a retroauricular plug.
Micro helicopters, the kind that fit in the palm of your hand (and sometimes spread holiday cheer) are huge fun — and hugely frustrating. Have you ever tried to get one to hover in place next to another? Impossible! MIT thinks it can do that, not with just two but thousands of the little beggars all hovering in harmony as part of a project called Flyfire. By using LED-equipped drones the project pledges to build free-floating 3D displays, endowing them with enough smarts and positional awareness to organize themselves into an airborne canvas. It sounds deliciously exciting and challenging, yet for some reason the school has decided you aren’t to know about it, pulling its concept video and website offline. We can only imagine there’s a government agency involved here, possibly trying to stem the virulent spread of robo-socialism, but we invite you to leave your own conspiracy theories in comments.
Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations.
Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes’ systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber — available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet — to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter.
