Remote surveillance with a grain of sand

The Israeli Defense Ministry, which for obvious reasons has always been at the forefront of research applied to defense and surveillance, has created the world’s smallest gyroscope, roughly the size of a grain of sand.
Despite its microscopic size that makes it absolutely invisible, it is so sensitive that it can provide accurate tracking of its position, and that of who unknowingly takes it along.

Thanks to the collaboration of scientists from the University of Tel Aviv, who developed it from a technology very similar to what is being used for sensors mounted on aircraft and ships. Everything has been miniaturized to the maximum, without losing anything in terms of accuracy. The gyroscope is teamed up with a standard GPS sensor so as to establish its exact location.

At the basis of this new gyroscope, there are microscopic laser semiconductor particles. When the gyroscope rotates (for example when mounted on a mobile phone), the light emitted by the lasers changes imperceptibly in terms of intensity and wavelength. By measuring these differences, the gyroscope is therefore able to measure the rotation, and any movement.

Therefore, combining this sensitivity to that of a GPS sensor, you can determine its user’s location with greater precision than it can be achieved now, especially in areas where GPS signal may have difficulty reaching you, such as in a narrow street in the city between two tall buildings.

Obviously, remote surveillance is only one of the possible applications of this technology, especially if the researchers manage to miniaturize the GPS sensors in the same way.