Showing posts with label Global Positioning System. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Global Positioning System. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Agricultural Drones

Manufacturing need not fear information technology. This is solid proof. I mean, if agriculture can do it. I think this is cowboy technology. Sheep farmers in Australia could put this to good use.



Agricultural Drones
Easy-to-use ­agricultural drones equipped with ­cameras, for less than $1,000. ..... using sensors and robotics to bring big data to precision agriculture. ..... a low-cost aerial camera platform ..... This low-altitude view (from a few meters above the plants to around 120 meters, which is the regulatory ceiling in the United States for unmanned aircraft operating without special clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration) gives a perspective that farmers have rarely had before. Compared with satellite imagery, it’s much cheaper and offers higher resolution. Because it’s taken under the clouds, it’s unobstructed ...... due largely to remarkable advances in technology: tiny MEMS sensors (accelerometers, gyros, magnetometers, and often pressure sensors), small GPS modules, incredibly powerful processors, and a range of digital radios. ..... Drones can provide farmers with three types of detailed views. First, seeing a crop from the air can reveal patterns that expose everything from irrigation problems to soil variation and even pest and fungal infestations that aren’t apparent at eye level. Second, airborne cameras can take multispectral images, capturing data from the infrared as well as the visual spectrum, which can be combined to create a view of the crop that highlights differences between healthy and distressed plants in a way that can’t be seen with the naked eye. Finally, a drone can survey a crop every week, every day, or even every hour. Combined to create a time-series animation, that imagery can show changes in the crop, revealing trouble spots or opportunities for better crop management. ......... a trend toward increasingly data-driven agriculture. ..... We expect 9.6 billion people to call Earth home by 2050. All of them need to be fed. ...... More and better data can reduce water use and lower the chemical load in our environment and our food. Seen this way, what started as a military technology may end up better known as a green-tech tool, and our kids will grow up used to flying robots buzzing over farms like tiny crop dusters.

Friday, August 03, 2012

Augmented Reality Getting Closer



You don't need zombie goggles to experience augmented reality. In its stripped down form you experience augmented reality more often than you realize you do. If your smartphone is helping you better navigate your surroundings, you are already on.

Augmented Reality Is Finally Getting Real
As smartphones explode in popularity, augmented reality is starting to move from novelty to utility. ... helped by the massive popularity of smartphones and tablets, and their constantly improving processors and sensors, along with the growth of high-speed wireless data networks ..... The software uses a smartphone's GPS, accelerometer, and compass to determine a user's position and line of site; but also to triangulate with other phones using the same software to determine specifically what everyone in a cluster is looking at. The company's technology has been used in a number of apps, including one for a recent NASCAR race in which fans, who couldn't see the entire 2.5-mile track, could point their phones at distant turns and get photos and videos generated by others who were closer to the action. .... Project Glass draws attention to the idea of a digital layer on top of the physical world..... Swedish furniture maker Ikea's 2013 catalog, 211 million copies of which were shipped out Wednesday, includes additional content that readers can see with an Android or iOS app.
Augmented reality could also make possible intimate remote engagement. You could have participated in Tahrir Square action. I guess you already did through Twitter. See? Twitter is also augmented reality. It is a stretch to say that, but it is.

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Privacy, Security And Consensus



There is more room for mischief in mobile. The average person is not aware how much they are already giving away.

Study Reveals a Confused View of Mobile Phone Privacy and Security
Smartphones store a wealth of valuable personal data—photos, videos, e-mail, texts, app data, GPS locations, and Web browsing habits—that is increasingly falling into the hands of advertisers, app makers, law enforcement, and crooks...... The majority of respondents also said they believed their mobile phone to be as private as their personal computer. .... millions of people already provide mobile data to marketers, business analysts, and law enforcement, often without their knowledge or consent
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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Texting While Driving Asks For Driverless Cars

A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford ...Image via WikipediaSome people are referring to it as an epidemic. People who text while they drive are more likely to get into an accident. That sounds like common sense. But the real solution is not to ban texting, although it might make short term sense. The real solution is to speed up and end up with driverless cars.

Self Driving Google Car
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