Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON: The first Chinese surveillance balloon that was founded flying over sensitive United States (US) ballistic missile sites may be guided by the latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology, a US expert said.
A second Chinese spy balloon was later found over Latin America before it headed toward the east over the central US.
An expert in surveillance balloons at the Marathon Initiative think tank in Washington, William Kim, told AFP that balloons are a powerful means of observation that are difficult to shoot down.
William Kim said the first Chinese balloon looked like an ordinary weather balloon but had distinct characteristics.
It has a large, visible “payload” – the electronics for guidance and collecting information- powered by large solar panels.
It appears the balloons have advanced steering technologies that the US military yet to put in the air.
AI use for spy balloon
Only by reading the changes in the air around the balloon, artificial intelligence has made it possible for a balloon to adjust its altitude to guide the balloon where it wants to go, Kim said.
“Before, you had to have a tether or you send it up, and it goes wherever the wind takes it,” Kim said.
“What’s happened recently with advances in artificial intelligence is that you may have a balloon that does not need its own motion system. Just by adjusting the altitude, AI can control its direction.”
He said that could also involve radio communications from its home base.
Balloons also have the benefit of holding relatively stationary positions over a surveillance target, as compared to constantly orbiting satellites that the spy agencies use to take photographs.
“These balloons can stay overhead; they can stay over one spot for months at a time, as compared to the low-Earth-orbit satellites,” Kim said.
