Tag Archives: ARGUS

Nanosensors in this bionic plant can instantly detect impurities and toxins within water

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Inspired by the Flint Water Crisis, the Argus is a bionic plant that can instantly detect irregularities in water quality, catching them long before they become a problem for residents in the neighborhood or district. Argus is the brainchild of MIT Media Lab-graduate Harpreet Sareen, who realized that plants have the ability to play a pivotal role in helping us know more about our environment. Sareen realized that plants are constantly sampling water, and if there are any impurities in the water around us, plants end up absorbing them too – making them perfect for helping catch any toxins and impurities in water years before they end up having irreversible effects on the humans and animals living in the area.

Sareen developed a special concoction of nano-sensing materials (DNA-based biosensors and carbon nanotubes) which he then injected into the plant. These nano-sensing materials inside the plant produce or turn off fluorescent light when they encounter any impurities, effectively turning the plant into an electricity-free water monitoring system. An inexpensive camera setup can detect these fluorescent signals, showing results in 15 minutes to 2 hours, offering a cost-effective and time-sensitive way to detect hard-metal toxins and chemicals in a given area’s water supply.

Argus is a Silver Winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2021.

Designer: Harpreet Singh Sareen

DARPA ARGUS-IS 1.8 Gigapixel Camera: Enough Resolution for Ya?

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There are plenty of drones hovering overhead, but I have to say that mounting one of these ultra-high resolution cameras on one will make them very useful for Big Brother. Pretty soon, they’ll be able to spot what you’re having for breakfast from 20,000 feet in the air.

argus zoom out

The highest-resolution surveillance system in the world was developed by DARPA and it’s called the ARGUS-IS. It features a camera that’s got a whopping 1.8 gigapixel resolution. The camera was designed to be used with drones like the Predator, and the ARGUS-IS (Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance – Imaging System) can spot a six-inch object within a ten square mile radius from 20,000 feet in the air.

argus zoom

The high-res cam doesn’t reveal facial features, but you can easily spot details like birds flying around and the color of somebody’s clothes.

argus zoom 2

The meta-camera is made up of a 368 sensors, which are just like the ones found in smartphones, but the ARGUS-IS uses its robust processing power to assemble these images into one giant image. The combined cameras can stream around 1 million terabytes of video, which is 5,000 hours of HD footage per day.

The images you see here were captured back in 2009, so one can only imagine the image resolution they could capture with today’s improved digital camera tech.

[via ExtremeTech]

DARPA’s 1.8-gigapixel cam touts surveillance from 20,000 feet (video)

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DNP 18gigapixel drone cam from DARPA touts surveillance from 20,000 feet

It's been three years since we first heard about DARPA's ARGUS-IS, but thanks to a PBS Nova special entitled "Rise of the Drones," we finally have more information about the 1.8-gigapixel camera that is supposedly the highest-resolution surveillance system in the world. The documentary showed video footage of the imaging system in action, though the camera itself remains shrouded in mystery for security reasons. Designed to be used with UAVs like the Predator, the ARGUS-IS (which stands for Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance - Imaging System) can spot a six-inch object within a ten square mile radius from 20,000 feet in the air. As shown in the clip after the break, the high-res cam doesn't quite reveal facial features, but you can spot details like a bird flying around a building and the color of someone's clothes.

The video goes on to reveal that the camera's internals are actually a collection of 368 sensors that are identical to the ones found in 5-megapixel smartphones. But the ARGUS-IS wouldn't be much without the processing power of the platform behind it. We're not entirely sure how this is done, but the camera allegedly streams around 1 million terabytes (that's an exabyte, folks) of video, which adds up to roughly 5,000 hours of HD footage per day. Thankfully, there's software that helps guys on the ground filter through the mass of data. As seen in the image above, it lets them track moving objects with up to 65 simultaneous windows. The military potential here is obvious, but DARPA is keeping mum on any future implementations of the ARGUS-IS -- or if it's been in use all this time.

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Source: ExtremeTech, PBS

US Army breaking up with A160 Hummingbird drone-copter, says it’s too high maintenance

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US Army breaking up with A160 Hummingbird drone-copter, says it's too high maintenance

It's not me, it's you. The US Army's dalliance with Boeing's A160 Hummingbird drone got one step closer to Splitsville after the military branch issued a stop-work order for the project. Initially scheduled to see action in Afghanistan starting this July, the chopper-drone turned plenty of heads thanks to a DARPA-developed Argus-IS imaging system with a 1.8-gigapixel camera capable of spying on ground targets from 20,000 feet. The honeymoon period between the Army and the A160 is apparently over, however, thanks to a host of issues. These included wiring problems as well as excessive vibration that caused an A160 to crash earlier this year due to a transmission mount failure. The problems not only increased risk and caused delays, but also led program costs to helicopter out of control -- a big no-no given Uncle Sam's recent belt-tightening. In the meantime, the Army is reportedly checking out the K-MAX, though it's important to note that this unmanned chopper specializes in cargo and doesn't have the A160's eyes.

US Army breaking up with A160 Hummingbird drone-copter, says it's too high maintenance originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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