Can't a computer track the missing plane 370 as a blur in the satalite imiges?

If I wanted to find a plane in an image, the plane would be the size (roughly) of one pixel. If the ocean is the background then the plane is a different color. The pixel that the plane is at will be discolored, assuming the plane is not moving. If the plane is moving fast then it becomes a discoloration of many adjacent pixels, a blur. The human eye can't recognize this but a computer can.

If the background is the ocean then it will have a very average cool for each pixel. To find a plane within a 4billion pixel area (2 billion by 2 billion) then we simply take the average color of the area. Any string of adjacent pixels that all differ from the average color in the same way must be the plane. The shape of the blur (long thin) will indicate the direction and speed of the plane, so that we can predict where it will show up in the next photo.

Voila, we find the plane.

 

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How do you know the ocean doesn't have white parts? Ever heard of whitecaps?

 

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Wow, so the blue and white average to light blue.

Maybe the plane is white, maybe beige? Maybe it has an identifiable stain on it's roof? Whatever the color doesn't matter.

The question is, is there actually descent resolution satellite images at the time of the flight that could be used to trace its path? I've done some calculating. If a 777 Boing travels at 1000km/hour (approximately 300m/s) and the average exposure time of a satellite picture is 0.1s then the plane moves 30m in the photo/image. So it isn't even too blurred in the image if the exposure time of the satellite camera is low.

The question still looms, are there images of 370 at the time of the flight of the missing craft? Are the images high res? If so then my plan works for locating the plane.

Check out this satellite image of a moving plane taken by google maps;

http://petapixel.com/2010/12/09/what-airplanes-look-like-to-google-map-satellite-cameras/

 

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You assume that the very expensive surveillance satellite's that countries launch just happen to be watching over a particular area of the world. Most of the time those things are trained on geopolitical targets and operational theatres, not some dead zone in the middle of the sea.

The flight itself would of been tracked by a number of different technologies already, the reason it "disappeared" is either because their was some sort of catastrophic failure that shut them all down, they could of been turned off (although the press reports no hijacking warnings were issued) or the plane literally was destroyed in the air. If the flight was destroyed it could of been due to any number of things from failures in the craft itself, to bombings or even potentially being shot down.

If it was the latter, then the persons responsible likely are injected into the investigation and will likely make sure there isn't any debris to spot via planes or "spy" satellites.

As for a "needle hunting program", with all data forensics to my knowledge it requires a multi-pointed system to define when a "match" occurs, seeing just a discoloured pixel in an ocean of discoloured pixels (remember water both reflects and defractions light waves, just look at Google map for Lake Victoria in Africa and you'll see it's pitch black compared to water elsewhere. This might also be a little due to Google tampering the image with oceanography information to make the maps look more interesting outside of populated areas.

Also consider that Googlemap wasn't assembled in a day, all the data collected for the images was over many months, that's months a plane going down doesn't have.)

 

A 2 billion by 2 billion pixel area is 4x10^18 (four thousand quadrillion) pixels. We don't have cameras (or optics) like that.

Low resolution satellites (i.e. weather satellites) are too low resolution to see airplanes. High resolution satellited (i.e. spy satellites) do not have the field of view to see much of the ocean. They can take high resolution pictures of the ocean, but those pictures include a very narrow field of view. Thus they wouldn't see the plane unless they knew exactly where to look.

 

Unless these spy satellites , tracted it from the moment that it deviated from its offical flight path

 

Unlikely, since spy satellites take some time to re-task - and they have to know where it is to begin with, and cannot stay "on station" very long due to their orbits.

 

Couldn't an APP be made that would be free to download to your cell phone or laptop that would be able to send out a signal as to where you are on the earth? That way anyone could use it to let others know where they are at any given time in cases of an emergency as this case.

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ams.cell_phone_tracking_app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gaugler.backitude

 

Thanks, I didn't know they already had them. I wonder why no one in the plane sent out a message for finding them.

Wouldn't there be a way, in an emergency, to override the pilots decision to cut of the transponder by an air traffic controller? That way if they need to locate the plane they just turn the transponder back onb until they have the plane located,l which shouldn't take but seconds , then turn it back off again in case there was a problem with it.

 

Transponders don't work out of radar coverage. And in any case for that to work you have to keep a receiver powered on.