Stanford's Francis Fukuyama Builds Personal Surveillance Drone 92
HerbieTMac writes "Political science professor Francis Fukuyama builds and flies his own personal surveillance drones. His current model requires ground visibility but he is working on the HAM license that would allow fully remote operation. His YouTube videos (video 1 , video 2) are particularly impressive." I had no idea that Francis Fukuyama had such technical interests.
You will all be watched ! Question here. (Score:2)
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I reviewed The End of History for my Historiography final in University. It was... awful really. I found his ideas simplistic and his proofs rather poor. I'd read student papers that I found more convincing. I honestly cannot believe that it got as much attention as it did. I was also pretty depressed that I didn't get to do Fredrick Jackson Turner or someone at least vaguely interesting. On the bright side, I got to be pretty snarky in a high level university history paper and still got an "A".
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Oh shit. I've already been tagged Flamebait. I guess I hit a nerve, hey?
Never question religious dogmas, the fanatics will band together and mod you down into oblivion.
Re:You will all be watched ! Question here. (Score:5, Insightful)
I prefer the situation where everybody is watching everybody, with nobody in command, to the situation where a powerful government is watching everybody with only a handful in command.
We cannot stop technology. Cameras are getting too small, and computers too fast and both get too cheap to realistically think they won't be applied on a massive scale. The big question is who controls the data, and what happens to it.
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I prefer the situation where everybody is watching the government with missiles locked on those in command. Just in case.
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Eeewww. Who wants to see naked fat senators on CSPAN?
OTS solutions already available (Score:4, Informative)
If you want one of your own, there are many solutions already available off-the-shelf, the cheapest is the Parrot AR.Drone which is computer-controlled via Wifi. If you want something a bit more serious, Mikrokopter makes kits and sells parts, but if you want more range you'll have to swap computer control via WiFi for a traditional FM remote plus UHF camera.
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I lose most RC aircraft that way :-(
I know an early prototype stuck itself to the roof of a convention hall, but I didn't think they let that problem go unchecked, especially in a vehicle with a full computer on board that should be able to tell that it's climbing into the wild blue yonder without remote input.
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personal surveillance drones ?
Any worse than the random google trucks taking pics of people taking out the trash au naturale?
Or is this like if everyone had the power to do a wiretap on demand?
What do you guys think
Considering he's a Political Science Prof, it makes more sense in this early century as surveillence is all the rage for Political reasons (know your enemy, where he shops, where he buys gas and which CostCo is his favourite.)
Us it against 'em. That's the modern way.
I know where you were last weekend
Will it survive any better? (Score:2, Funny)
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Ham license (Score:4, Informative)
A ham license might let him operate on different frequencies and with longer range. However the FAA does not allow a radio-control aircraft to operate out of view of the controller under current guidelines.
No worries... (Score:5, Informative)
The license is so he can do more sophisticated telemetry. FTA:
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Working on it?
Gime a break. Any somewhat educated person should be able to pass the exam for all privs above 30mhz with an hours worth of reading. What's he been smoking?
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This requires, among other things, a ham radio license.
I guess he's working on those other things...
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He's a poly sci professor. Assume dumb as a rock until evidence shows otherwise.
I posted about flying my scale predator over occupiers/gun shows/tea party/rainbow gathering etc (anybody with paranoid tendencies, which I am deliberately feeding) some months ago and got flamed. Was told I was 'off my meds'.
Still posting about it, hoping to encourage others to help push the lunatic fringe over the edge.
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In fairness to Timothy, I wrote the summary. But without realtime video and telemetry, you can't fly out of sight. So my summary is, in fact, correctly stated (currently requires visual contact, HAM license would allow remote operation)
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To back up the AC, his post is completely correct. FAA Advisory Circular 91-57 allows individuals to fly remotely controlled aircraft up to 400 feet in altitude, within visual range at all times. This does not apply to university craft, craft owned by a business, or craft owned "by the public" such as police, military, or any city/county UAVs. You have to be able to demonstrate to the FAA that you are flying solely for entertainment/education and that you are only spending your own money on it, and not m
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FAA requires visual contact at all times.
They won't be the first to break that rule, nor the last. Perhaps they will be the first prosecuted for doing it so publicly.
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Replying to self: Building a 'guided missile' is the same offense as building a machine gun (without appropriate licenses). Ten years federal. No joke.
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Incorrect.
Under current guidelines the FAA RECOMMENDS that any SUAS not be operated out of LOS (Line Of Sight) of the operator, but it is only a recommendation, NOT law.
That said, new law that will be coming into effect very soon WILL restrict flights to Line of Sight, but Line of Sight is not tightly de
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That said, new law that will be coming into effect very soon
Just wanted to hang this off your post, although it's OT, it's definitely "News for Nerds": new laws will require US taxpayers to send in the forms that their investment banks send them. In other words, the US government will no longer accept "your word" that your purchase price was what it was; now, they require the investment houses to provide the government with purchase prices, and your report had damned well better match that, otherwise ... well, you won't be paying more taxes while in prison, so perh
Well... (Score:2)
...what with history being over, he needed something else to do.
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...what with history being over, he needed something else to do.
Ha ha. Really, he should feel silly for writing that book. As if the end of one empire really meant the end of history.
The burning question... (Score:1)
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See video 2. They already did.
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now that would be an awesome project..
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I wonder what would happen if such a device filmed the owner getting harassed by cops...
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if you had it always following you - even in public .. i don't think it i would be an "if" but rather a "when"
"Ham" is not an initialism or an acronym (Score:2)
so quit writing it in all caps.
See also (Score:2, Informative)
DIY Drones [diydrones.com]
Front page? (Score:1)
military and law enforcement (Score:2)
You need to track someone who is on the move, you use one of these and they will take video and keep tabs on him without needing to place a gps on that person...it is very cool, if someone does not know they are being tracked, however, how small does it have to be in order to be effective at not being discovered, as once discovered, they can just shoot out of the sky or go into a place where they can not follow.
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It's certain to be destruction of government property to purposely sabotage a government drone. So if you're being actively monitored by such a device, you can be pretty sure there's an agent or twelve around the corner from you ready to pounce. You'll get arrested and subjected to search. Also government operated ones will probably be riding pretty high, so picking it off will be difficult. A laser is probably a good idea to blind it, but somehow I suspect it'll fall afoul of the same laws which prohib
Cool but not all that impressive (Score:5, Informative)
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Of course, It's getting better everyday in time [youtube.com] and distance [youtube.com].
On second thought, IMO, Francis is off track, multirotors are cool, but don't fit the use case. That's why the Japan Ministry Of Defense's flying sphere [youtube.com] has temporary hover capabilities, but it designed to fly horizontally, which is more efficient for long distance--its design fits the search and inspect use case. Now for search and rescue, a multirotor maybe more appropriate.
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Surveillance Drone? (Score:1)
More like a RC helicopter with a camera taped to it. How is this news worthy again?
Illegal? (Score:2)
I don't see how you get to that conclusion.
I mean, I understand the fear that the government will want the technology for itself, but the facts do not support the conclusion.
The main reason I can say this with confidence is that the government has so far built its legal basis for operating these drones on some rather common and pedestrian legal precedents. So to really restrict the usage of drones, the government would have to restrict the kind of laws that allow hobbyists to fly RCs and journalists to do t
Maybe he should stick to technology (Score:4, Informative)
After all his "End of History" prognosis was spectacularly wrong.
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You are a very funny fuzzyfuzzyfungus :)
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The art of prognosis: Say one thing and allow for the other.
Every third rate investment letter writer knows that trick. That way they can later pull out the part of an old prognosis that makes them look good.
Color me unimpressed.
Eh... (Score:3)
At least his little RC toys appear to actually fly, don't cost billions of dollars, and haven't yet crashed into a morass of delusionally bad decision-making.
Who the fuck is he? (Score:2, Insightful)
And why should I care?
And yes I did read the Wikipedia article.
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You should care because it means that a random political science professor can hang a camera off a drone and get data.
If I was so inclined I could drop less than $1k and buy a prebuilt drone that will run rings around this guy's drone - something that will fly a GPS plotted course and linger at various waypoints while it beamed back video. All I am seeing here is that I should pat this guy on the head, smile and go "aren't you a good boy!"
So you put a camera on a RC model (Score:3, Interesting)
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ugh (Score:4, Interesting)
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Wow, the signature list on that letter is like a Who's Who of the worst people in early 21st-century America.
Note to mods: the parent post is not "offtopic." The story isn't about some random guy building a drone, it's about a specific guy building a drone, and just in case you missed the point, the summary links to the Wikipedia article about the guy! That makes who he is, as well as what he does, a fair topic for conversation. My guess is that whoever slapped nomadic's very insightful post with an "of
He can work on his toys in jail (Score:2)
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Which attack on Iraq? If you're talking about the 2004 invasion, Fukuyama actually publicly came out against the invasion and the overambitious objectives of the Bush administration.
I wonder how many of those who criticize Fukuyama on this thread have actually read his books.
Well Well... (Score:3)
I hear Walmart will be selling them...
Actually I think it a good idea for the hobbits to get involved in drones with paint ball guns attached ... you know for dog fighting with gov drones...
UFO (Score:1)
Welcome to the old hobby professor. (Score:4, Interesting)
Several of us have been doing this for years now. http://diydrones.com/ [diydrones.com]
I have had a self guided drone that will take off and land on it's own as well as fly to preprogrammed waypoints for over a year now. It runs off of an arduino http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8785 [sparkfun.com]
ham radio ATV is the video feed and I send packet data via cellphone to control it. I am hoping to get a Android phone to make it completely cellular based for video and control to avoid the problem with using Ham radio (long range is a problem with HAM and fast scan ATV.
I am glad a Professor has finally caught up to us hobbyests that have been dinking with it for years now.
"His YouTube videos are particularly impressive." (Score:2)
Whiskers?! (Score:2)
Reading the article summary, I suddenly imagined a few orbs floating around his body, like WSKRS in SeaQuest DSV.
Maybe it's time for a break...
Good lord! next thing you know ... (Score:2)