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Big Brother, We are Watching You: An Opinion about PRISM, New Technology, and Privacy

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Big Brother and Privacy

Privacy in the news

If you follow the news, it seems that many technological advances – computers, internet, emails, cell phones, and even unmanned systems – have turned against us.  Instead of tools that serve, they have become instruments that watch and track.

Leaked documents revealed widespread government intrusion into emails and telephone metadata. Senators have raised suspicions about intrusive FBI investigative techniques.  States fear Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and are restricting police access to them. Activists groups are agitating for privacy protections.

Even Superman is annoyed. In the movie Man of Steel, he trashes a UAV that was following him, while growling, “You can’t find out where I hang up my cape.”

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UAV Charts

UAV Overview and Public Attitudes

UAV ChartsSome interesting charts came our way recently.  The people at Armada International put together an exhaustive overview of UAVs, detailing payload, engine type, length, and other specs.  You may think you understand the diversity of UAVs out there, but you have to see pictures of all of them at once to truly appreciate the astonishing variety that exists. See UAV Overview for download. The other chart comes from the graphic information folks at Column Five Media.  It illustrates various attitudes of the public toward UAVs, including the completely predictable fact that people are more comfortable with UAVs conducting Search & Rescue missions than identifying traffic speedsters.  See Public Attitudes toward UAVs.

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GPS and UGVs: Part II

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In Part One of our series on GPS, we discussed its uses, problems, and alternatives. In Part Two, we take a look at the role of GPS in Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV).

Inertial Navigation System

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and ground vehicles often use a combination of GPS and Inertial Navigation System (INS). INS depends on input from motion sensors (accelerometers) and rotation sensors (gyroscopes). Through a process known as “dead reckoning,” the vehicle’s current position is calculated utilizing time passed from previous locations and estimates of speed.
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AUVSI North America – What’s the Buzz?

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What was the buzz at AUVSI North America conference, besides the UAVs being demonstrated?  I talked to many, many people at the show, trying to glean information for future blog postings as well as newsletters. It’s hard to generalize, but I did notice certain topics being frequently discussed on the exhibitor’s floor. For the purpose of this blog post I am excluding conversations at the seminars.


What happens in Las Vegas, stays permanently on your work record

A number of people commented that this year’s attendance and exhibits were smaller than last year’s (I don’t know if this is true; this is my first show).  I heard a rumor that the GSA scandal that occurred a few months back made Las Vegas a questionable destination for some participants. Read more

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UGVS & UAVS IN DOMESTIC MARKETS

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In the next few years, it is expected that both Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) will be become more integrated into domestic markets. How do UGVs and UAVs compare in this military-to-civilian transition? While clearly there are some significant differences between the way UAVs and UGVs will be deployed, there also some similarities. Read about it here.

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Interoperability: “ Bandwidth is more precious than gold and platinum”

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At the recent Ground Robotics Capability Conference (GRCC), I surveyed a number of vendors about what was on their mind. I read them a list of topics that are frequently covered in OCU Pro newsletters as well as AMREL’s corporate blog.

By far, one topic elicited more interest than any other: interoperability. On one hand, I was pleased. AMREL has been a leader for developing solutions that have the ability to “… to work with or use the parts or equipment of another system” (Merriam-Webster definition). For example, our Flexpedient® Solutions enable kit building of Operator Control Units with common control capabilities.

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Why are there more unmanned platforms than customers?

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Why are unmanned systems developers offering so many different kinds of platforms and ideas, when there is comparatively little demand by the civilian market? Why are there more offerings than customers?

These questions were raised in the Unmanned Systems group in LinkedIn. It provoked a number of insightful comments about the current state of unmanned systems and its future. If you are a member of LinkedIn, and can log in, you can read the discussion here. Read more

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The Return of the Smartphone Security Issue

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As reported previously in this blog, the 2nd Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) appears to have successfully tested ARMY’s communication systems.  Not all the results were reassuring.  For example, there was some nasty feedback about the Nett Warrior.  Most surprising was that many warfighters claimed that they didn’t want or need a smartphone.  The ARMY’s smartphone program is threatened by other dangers as well. As noted in Wired, the smartphone could be a casualty of proposed Defense cuts. However, one of the most serious problems is the one that was identified in the earliest days of the program: security.

I haven’t heard too much about it from the ARMY recently, but some recent news items have raised the prominence of this issue: Read more

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Where are the Japanese robots? – DECEMBER UPDATE

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December Update If you are not reading The Robot Report (and you should be; it’s one of the best things on the web about the robotic industry), you may have missed their article about the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.  Much of what it says will not be news to the readers of this blog, but one paragraph caught my attention:

“In the case of Fukushima, both iRobot and QinetiQ, companies that volunteered equipment to Tepco, instructors found that senior Tepco employees were chosen to be trained to operate the American and British robots yet they were less suited to the task than the 20-year olds who had gamer experience. The remote-controlled PackBot and Talon robots and the RC Bobcat tractors, all used gaming consoles to operate their devices and the senior employees were slow to learn. In a recent Webinar on the issue by Robotic Trends, the trainers found that 20-year olds learned in less than a day while it took the older Tepco employees many days to gain the same level of competence.”

With the recent rapid growth of unmanned systems, there has been much speculation about the disruptive effects of their wide-spread adoption.  A commonly-held view is that low-skilled workers will be displaced, while an educated elite (presumably people who make robots) will continue to thrive. Read more

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AMREL at UAV WEST Summit

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Of course, AMREL will be at the UAV WEST Summit!  We’ll be there to talk about our interoperable OCU solutions, as wll as our super-light, super-powerful ROCKY DB6 handheld. Come see us at booth #211.

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