China's big surveillance push

Published 10 August 2011

In China’s latest push to keep tabs on its citizens, police in Beijing have ordered supermarkets and shopping malls throughout the city to install high-definition security cameras; the recent order comes as part of a broader expansion in monitoring technology which includes the addition of millions of surveillance cameras over the past five years and large increases in domestic security spending

In China’s latest push to keep tabs on its citizens, police in Beijing have orderedsupermarkets and shopping malls throughout the city to install high-definition security cameras.

The recent order comes as part of a broader expansion in monitoring technology which includes the addition of millions of surveillance cameras over the past five years and large increases in domestic security spending.

Bo Zhang, a senior research analyst at IMS Research, an electronics-focused consulting firm, estimates that more than ten million cameras were installed in China in 2010 alone at a cost of $680 million. This year total internal security spending is set to reach nearly $97 billion, more than the country’s official military budget. Security spending includes Internet censorship as well as projects like individual identity cards and neighborhood communities that monitor the activity of fellow residents.

Other countries like Britain and the United States have embraced surveillance cameras, but China’s camera network is set to far outpace other countries growing more than 20 percent annually from 2010 to 2014, more than double the rate of others, according to IMS Research.  Read more

TECHNOLOGY: Beachball-like Observation UAV Developed

Published 8 August 2011

A beach ball-size drone can fly down narrow alleys, hover on the spot, take off vertically, bounce along the ground like a soccer ball -- all the time transmitting live images from a video camera; it can travel above traffic or spy on a target through a window -- and can also be used in search and rescue in disaster zones, where it could fly through buildings and even up and down stairways

Fumiyuki Sato with his beachball UAV // Source: xatakaciencia.com

A Japanese researcher working for Japan’s Ministry of Defense has developed a spherical observation UAV that can fly down narrow alleys, hover on the spot, take off vertically, bounce along the ground like a soccer ball – all the time transmitting live images from a video camera.

The drone – or Spherical Air Vehicle (SAF) — is the size of a beach ball, and it is controlled by an operator with a remote control. It is powered by a propeller protected by a spherical shield with large openings for airflow, allowing it to hit a wall or a tumble to the ground without damaging the propeller. Tech.blorge reports that the device’s designer is continuing to work to improve it. The designer says that in the future the SAF could be used as a formidable pursuit vehicle that can travel above traffic or spy on a target through a window.

Its inventor says it could also help in such as search and rescue in disaster zones, where it could fly through buildings and even up and down stairways.

The developer, Fumiyuki Sato, a research engineer at the Technical Research and Development Institute Ministry of Defense, said that “This is the world’s first spherical air vehicle.”  Read more