Next Media Animation prepared this clip to demonstrate ultra-powerful Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System, or ARGUS that is being fitted on three Boeing A160 Hummingbirds being deployed to Afghanistan this spring.
Just how powerful is ARGUS? The1.8 gigapixel camera package, consisting of 92 five-megapixel imagers covers up to 36 square miles in one sweep, depending on the quality of the resolution; it will give its remote pilots at least 65 independent, scale-able video windows. The scientists at Darpa initially developed it for Army Special Forces.
If the forthcoming Afghanistan deployment isn’t the first time conventional Army forces have used the Hummingbird, its close to it. Lt. Col. Matthew Munster concedes that ARGUS “has never been flown on this platform before,” so he’ll start tests in the new year to make sure that all its sensors, cameras and data-links play nicely with each other.
Source: Wired:Danger Room