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I like the general argument that's being made in the article about encryption available to consumers being the same, and of the same importance as military encr

by ttsda 7y ago

I like the general argument that's being made in the article about encryption available to consumers being the same, and of the same importance as military encryption, but I've got to disagree with military electronics no longer being the bleeding edge. Especially in areas such as RF, optics and positioning, the military still has access to stuff the general market can only dream of.

jascii 7y ago
Do you have any examples of that? In my experience the military tends to be extremely conservative and prefers well-proven designs. For example: The RCA1802, a processor launched in 1972 is still being manufactured mostly because of its use in military applications (guidance system of the Tomahawk Cruise missile among others)
- SiempreViernes 7y ago
  The military is always at the bleeding edge of military applications and form factors, I think that is what gets people confused. I mean the small cassegrain telescopes in missiles are probably bleeding edge for that size and weight for instance. However, I think this fact falls into "weird flex, but ok" category.
- wcunning 7y ago
  Gorgon Stare springs immediately to mind. I certainly can't afford a multi-day in the air drone carrying a 30 lbs mutli-million megapixel wide camera [0]. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon_Stare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon_Stare
  - jascii 7y ago
    Obviously the military has "toys" I cant afford, however, do you see any fundamental technologies in that imaging system that are not available to consumers? Even the quoted development cost of $15 Milion are not out of range for a well funded tech startup..
  - Retric 7y ago
    It’s not a single multi million mega pixel camera. “ARGUS is essentially 368 five-megapixel smartphone cameras clustered together” That’s a 1,840 megapixel (1.85 gigapixel) camera which is not that extreme and in line with several of these images: https://petapixel.com/tag/gigapixel/ https://petapixel.com/tag/gigapixel/ A lot of confusion comes because it’s a combination of multiple different cameras than capture wide angles, infrared, and a separate camera that can focus on areas of interest within the field of view. So, if the entire image was at maximum resolution you would get into insane territory, but that’s not how it works.

by ttsda 7y ago

jascii 7y ago

Do you have any examples of that? In my experience the military tends to be extremely conservative and prefers well-proven designs. For example: The RCA1802, a processor launched in 1972 is still being manufactured mostly because of its use in military applications (guidance system of the Tomahawk Cruise missile among others)

SiempreViernes 7y ago
The military is always at the bleeding edge of military applications and form factors, I think that is what gets people confused. I mean the small cassegrain telescopes in missiles are probably bleeding edge for that size and weight for instance. However, I think this fact falls into "weird flex, but ok" category.
wcunning 7y ago
Gorgon Stare springs immediately to mind. I certainly can't afford a multi-day in the air drone carrying a 30 lbs mutli-million megapixel wide camera [0]. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon_Stare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon_Stare
- jascii 7y ago
  Obviously the military has "toys" I cant afford, however, do you see any fundamental technologies in that imaging system that are not available to consumers? Even the quoted development cost of $15 Milion are not out of range for a well funded tech startup..
- Retric 7y ago
  It’s not a single multi million mega pixel camera. “ARGUS is essentially 368 five-megapixel smartphone cameras clustered together” That’s a 1,840 megapixel (1.85 gigapixel) camera which is not that extreme and in line with several of these images: https://petapixel.com/tag/gigapixel/ https://petapixel.com/tag/gigapixel/ A lot of confusion comes because it’s a combination of multiple different cameras than capture wide angles, infrared, and a separate camera that can focus on areas of interest within the field of view. So, if the entire image was at maximum resolution you would get into insane territory, but that’s not how it works.