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COURTESY: USAF

information would be at the fingertips of thedevice’s user. No longer is this science fiction,but rather science fact.

Creating micro flying devices has beenhindered by our inability to mimic the flightcharacteristics of insects. Some of the first

aviators tried to fly by duplicating the complexand incredibly quick motion of flapping wings.The inventor would place himself in anawkward wooden contraption and set inmotion a couple of lifelike wings - he usuallyended up peddling over a cliff edge. All suchefforts failed, and many pioneers lost their

lives. It’s ironic therefore that over a hundredyears later scientists in America and Englandare confident that they are now beginning tounderstand the incredible ‘flapping wingmotion’ of bees, flies and butterflies. Eagle-eyed watchers from the world of intelligencerecognise that if scientists now understand thetechnology, there is a real possibility it couldbe duplicated.

The CIA and other US defence agencies areworking alongside a number of groups linkedto this research. A prototype flying dronemeasuring less than half-an-inch has alreadybeen built, and there are plans afoot to buildeven smaller drones. One promising inventionflies by flapping two micro-thin membranes(wings). Sceptics believe it would be impossi-ble to attach even the slightest weight to thisdevice (cameras, audio etc.), but scientists

Mimicking the movement of a fly

DIAGRAM: JEN PHILPOT

Motor and Heat Sinks8 gm

Propeller2 gm

PowerConverter

1 gm

PrimaryBatteries26 gm

Downlinktransmitter

1.4 gm

Control Actuator0.5 gm

VideoCamera

2 gm

Gyro1 gm

Pressure Sensor6 gm

Magnetometer0.5 gm

Uplink Receiver3 gm

Flight Computers1 gm

The tiny Black Widow UAV

The B2 flying wing is a splendid example of an aircraft carryingan array of advanced technology. Now US scientists are on theverge of developing microscopic flying devices that will conductsurveillance operations and much more...

The pioneering DARPA-backed AeroVironment MAV Black Widow project is already20-years old. The device weighed just two ounces and had a six-inch wingspan

AnotherAeroVironment

project. Note thereal-time video

footage providedby this MAV

MicroFly

n a small room in Langley, CIA analystsdigest a plethora of top secret projects thatare on the verge of moving espionagetechniques and counterterrorism opera-tions well into the future. Indeed, only afew years ago some of the projects andtechnology available today, would havebeen more at home seated on sets built for

Hollywood’s science fiction movie industry.Today, the creators of some quite astonishingtechnology are on the verge of staggeringinventions that will almost certainly re-inventthe spying game.

In the last edition of Eye Spy, we examinedhow Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) arebecoming a common sight in our skies,especially over war zones. They are also beingused commercially by all manor of companiesand scientists who now recognise that theyoffer cheap and alternative methods forsurveillance. These remarkable creations havethe ability to perform a range of tasks fromstriking terrorist safe houses, to 24-hoursurveillance on oil pipe lines. UAVs come in allshapes and sizes and have various powersources. This often governs just how longthey can stay aloft and the type of task eachdevice can undertake.

Military and government contract companiesare not the only organisations to realise theunique potential of UAVs. Those charged withintelligence gathering of a different kind arenow taking a serious interest in unmannedsurveillance devices. Imagine a spying devicethat not only flies like an insect, but is as smallas an insect. Undetected and almost silent, theworld’s most secure buildings would bevulnerable. Access to top secret meetings and

SPECIAL FEATURE

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Pilot-StaticProbe 1 gm