China’s scientists are developing a super-sensitive Radar that can detect the wing-flapping of mosquitoes up to 1.5 kilometers away.
At the laboratory of Beijing Institute of Technology the blueprint of device is being tested.Researcher said that “recognizing and tracking mosquito-sized targets is no longer science fiction”.Researcher said that they will use this technology for saving lives.
According to the World Health Organisation mosquitoes are the reason for one million deaths each year and mosquitoes have claimed more human lives than all wars combined.
After decades of development of technology, modern military radars are now able to pick up the echoes of small objects at an impressive distance. The US Missile Defence Agency’s sea-based X-band radar can detect a baseball-sized object from about 4,000-5000 km away.
According to scientists working on the project,the super-sensitive radar will work by emitting rapid pulses of electromagnetic waves that travel at many frequencies.
Scientists in other countries have used civilian radar networks to track the group movement of birds or larger insects such as locusts and moths, but this is believed to be the first attempt to use radars to monitor mosquitoes.One of the researcher said that “Mosquito wings ofcourse are a lot different from the metal wings of a military jet, and so are their structures, shapes and movements. The mosquito radar is going to need a completely new set of algorithms”.
Scientists working on the project said that “The biggest challenge will come from the environment”,since the radio waves from a mosquito were extremely weak and could easily be conquer by background noise.
