Surveillance

DARPA is starting a fascinating new unmanned systems project that has undersea motherships launching smaller submarines and flying vehicles to conduct pop-up surveillance on pirates, terrorists and hijackers.

Gasoline refineries hackable from a 65 km distance, household cameras deployed against their will and trained on you, and a Toyota Prius driven with a laptop: Gizmag looks at a few of the biggest hacks from this year's DefCon and Black Hat security conferences held in Las Vegas.

UAV may soon become more visible in US skies with the FAA announcing that is has issued operating permits for a pair of civilian unmanned aircraft to a company based in Alaska.

In light of a recent unmanned flight of a modified Jetstream aircraft by BAE, Gizmag looks at the future of civilian unmanned aircraft.

The ESA's Proba-V has become the first satellite to pick up aircraft tracking signals from space, paving the way for continuous aircraft tracking by satellite.

DARPA’s Adaptable Sensor System (ADAPT) program is looking towards to use smartphone technologies and practices to create new ground sensors quickly and cheaply.

Aeryon Labs recently unveiled its latest compact UAV, the SkyRanger, which deploys within seconds from a backpack and boasts a new airframe that can remain aloft in high winds and extreme temperatures.

Spain's ATLANTE Unmanned Aerial System made its maiden flight at the end of February.

From an altitude of 20,000 ft, DARPA's newest aerial surveillance camera, ARGUS-IS, can keep a real-time video eye on an area 4.5 miles (7.2 km) across down to a resolution of about six inches (15 cm).

British soldiers in Afghanistan have been issued palm-sized Black Hornet Nano UAVs to scout around corners and obstacles for hidden dangers.

NYC artist Adam Harvey has created a series of garments which claim to offer an invisibility cloak for people wishing to avoid the prying eyes of UAVs.

EyeSEe store mannequins have cameras and microprocessors in their heads, for gathering demographic data on shoppers.