Making Tech Headlines · Page 6
A Pocket Receiver Borrows the Drone's View Until the Signal Changes
· New York time
A Kyiv startup has built a roughly 10-ounce receiver that lets Ukrainian troops watch video feeds from Russian drones. The device offers a way to see what some drones are transmitting, using the aircraft's own camera feed as a source of information. Its usefulness may be limited by changes in the technology it monitors. Russian moves toward digital video and AI-guided drones that emit no signals could make this particular advantage short-lived, the reporting notes. A receiver can only pick up the kind of signal it is able to receive; a drone that stops broadcasting in a usable way presents a different problem. The device illustrates a recurring contest in communications technology. One side finds value in a signal, and changes to that signal can alter the value of the tool built to listen. Small size is an advantage for carrying the receiver, not a guarantee that it will work against every future design. There is a sharp irony in a camera giving away a view to someone other than its intended operator. But the joke depends on the camera continuing to talk. The next round may belong to a less chatty machine, leaving the clever receiver with the most frustrating channel of all: silence.
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