Is China developing the world's most powerful surveillance camera?

A laser-based system developed by a team of Chinese scientists has the potential to allow the country to monitor foreign military satellites with unparalleled precision, according to the South China Morning Post.

The South China Morning Post reported on February 20th that a team of scientists from the Institute of Aerospace Information Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has achieved a breakthrough in optical imaging technology with a powerful laser that could redefine global surveillance standards.

This technology has the potential to allow China to monitor foreign military satellites with unparalleled precision or distinguish fine details such as human faces from low Earth orbit.

A team of Chinese researchers has deployed an advanced synthetic aperture lidar system for their experiment on Qinghai Lake.

Photo: Screenshot from SCMP

The research team captured images with millimeter-level resolution from a distance of over 100 km, something previously thought impossible. This breakthrough was described in a study published last week in the Chinese journal Laser .

The aforementioned experiment was conducted on Qinghai Lake, a vast, high-altitude body of water in the remote northwest of China. The research team deployed an advanced synthetic aperture lidar system, a type of laser-based imaging system with a wide field of view.

Positioned on the northern shore of Qinghai Lake, the camera targeted reflective prism arrays located 101.8 km away under clear atmospheric conditions with high visibility, minimal cloud cover, and stable winds.

The camera can quickly detect details as small as 1.7 mm and indicate the distance to objects with an accuracy of 15.6 mm, a level of detail 100 times better than the best current surveillance cameras and the best telescopes based on traditional lenses.

The Chinese team of scientists used several technological innovations to achieve this groundbreaking technological breakthrough. By splitting the laser beam across a 4x4 array of micro-lenses, they expanded the system's optical aperture from 17.2 mm to 68.8 mm, overcoming the usual trade-off between aperture size and field of view.

The research team also used a specialized laser module to send signals with frequencies exceeding 10 gigahertz. This provides good range resolution, facilitating accurate distance measurements, according to the South China Morning Post .

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/trung-quoc-phat-trien-camera-do-tham-manh-nhat-the-gioi-185250222093312673.htm