This is jaw dropping: ...US Army investing in smarter ‘spy rocks’

[dixiegrrrrl]

Hi-tech weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin presented its latest effort in surveillance technology this week – a web of self-organising sensors with the ability to trigger any kind of device from a distance and have it operating autonomously.
The goal of the defense contractor’s much lauded “field and forget” technology is to offer vast coverage at little operation cost, as well as the ability for units to remain in sleep mode and without maintenance for years on end. It relies on the sun for power, Wired reported from the meeting.

The official name given to the technology is SPAN – or Self-Powered Ad-hoc Network – a “covert, perpetually self-powered wireless sensor network” that offers its users “unobtrusive, continuous surveillance” at sizes so small it could fit into a rock.

When remotely triggered, the self-organizing sensors can do anything from starting up a camera to ordering a computer to alert human personnel when a civil structure is in danger or simply disrepair.

check out this bit:

Iran also discovered a spy rock, at the site of a uranium enrichment site, in September 2012.

While troops were patrolling the classified site’s perimeter, they found a monitoring device in a rock.
When they had approached it, the device exploded; it was presumably rigged to self-destruct on approach.

Pics and more at link...very interesting reading.
http://rt.com/usa/spy-rocks-lockheed-usa-771/

[msanthrope]

1. That sounds amazingly cool--the green technology that allows solar power to keep these

things running for years is a good thing.

[DirkGently]

2. … and one day, the rocks achieved consciousness & rebelled!

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. Love it!!!!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Somehow this changes comletely

[LuvNewcastle]

3. There should be plenty of jobs for all of us in the future -- watching cameras.

What kind of a weird-ass country are we living in?

[awoke_in_2003]

16. I asked that same question...

when the Backstreet Boys were all the rave

[Baitball Blogger]

4. I suspect a resurrection of the pet rock fad.

Before long, we will all be monitored.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. And unlike in 1984...

we allowed it willingly. How many of us have cell phones, tablets, and PCs with built in cameras and microphones? Probably a large number. And they can all be turned on remotely.

[SamYeager]

5. Is there a more reliable source for this? nm

[tammywammy]

6. Here's LM's page on it.

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/span.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Will Lockheed Martin suffice?

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/span.html

[SamYeager]

8. I did not doubt the technology.

I doubt the other claims, though, and still have no confirmation from a reliable source.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Read their own presser

As I said, will Lockheed Martin suffice?

And if you expect the WAPO to publish an expose of this shit, that ended well with $400.00 toilets.

[SamYeager]

10. Nothimg about Iran in there

RT lies.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. So does our media

we call it bias.

Every news outlet, and I mean EVERY ONE, has a bias. Once you know it and understand it, you can get through it.

Once again, will the manufacturer suffice? They are pretty explicit as to what this does.

This is from the RT story

When remotely triggered, the self-organizing sensors can do anything from starting up a camera to ordering a computer to alert human personnel when a civil structure is in danger or simply disrepair.

This is from Lockheed Martin

This smart sensor network can cue a camera or unmanned aerial vehicle to further study an area or call an engineer when a pipeline or bridge structure is in danger of fracture.

RT used Sixth grade English. But it means the same.

[msanthrope]

15. Well, who would reasonably object to us spying on an Iranian "uranium enrichment" site?

Even if RT is not the most credible source---and it is not, I cannot see an objection to using such technology for that purpose.

[SamYeager]

18. I'd love it if it was true

but alas, no credible source for it.

[tammywammy]

12. Yes, I would take RT's claims about Iran with a grain of salt. n/t

[BrotherIvan]

19. All that smarts going toward WAR

And foundations creating solar stoves & lamps for third world countries, hell for here, must rely on donations. We got it way wrong.