The U.S. Air Force announced that it will integrate face recognition technology into its drones.
(Photo : Photo by C.E. Lewis/U.S. Air Force via Getty Images)
In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, a Predator drone prepares for a nighttime surveillance mission over the skies of Iraq February 11, 2004 at Balad Air Base in Iraq.
This means that these UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) will be able to identify their targets easily by just looking at their faces.
For some individuals, this is a great innovation since it will make defense drones more accurate. However, this technology raises fears among other people because they can easily kill specified individuals.
US Air Force's Drones To Have Face Recognition!
According to New Scientist's latest report, the U.S. Department of Defense's contract with Seattle-based firm RealNetworks will allow the U.S. Air Force to use its face recognition tech.
(Photo : Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images)
Image has been reviewed by the U.S. Military prior to transmission.) An MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) flies by during a training mission at Creech Air Force Base on November 17, 2015 in Indian Springs, Nevada.
Also Read: US Navy Awards Lockheed Martin with $2 Billion Contract for First Sea-based Hypersonic Tech
On their contract, it was confirmed that RealNetworks' SAFR facial recognition platform can now be deployed on autonomous drones.
"Through this effort, we will adapt the SAFR facial recognition platform for deployment on an autonomous sUAS for special ops, ISR, and other expeditionary use-cases," explained DoD in the contract.
The latest collaboration is expected to cost almost $800,000. As of writing, DoD and the U.S. Air Force haven't confirmed when will the SAFR-powered drones be used or deployed in actual defense activities.
What is SAFR?
SAFR SCAN is considered to be the first software-hardware solution.
"SAFR is the world's premier facial recognition platform for touchless access control, authentication, and live video applications," said RealNetworks.
RealNetworks designed this platform to deliver the best combination of computer vision, facial recognition, and image capture technologies.
Now, here are some of the major benefits offered by RealNetworks' SAFR SCAN:
- Two-way audio for intercom and voice reminders
- Authenticates up to 30 individuals per minute
- 20,000 user capacity
- Authenticates users in seconds
- Works indoors and outdoors in extreme lighting and environmental conditions
- Works with masks
If you want to learn more about this advanced facial recognition platform, you can visit SAFR's official website.
In other news, Chinese scientists created the new war games AI AlphaWar, a new artificial intelligence model that can act as humans during military simulations.
Meanwhile, the new USAF-Reliable Robotics collaboration is expected to work on autonomous flights for military needs.
For more news updates about defense, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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