Copyright Digital Design and Imaging Service Inc.
Many of you might have noticed a white and red balloon floating above Towson today. At one point it was above Rodgers Forge and later it was above Towson University.
The president of the company that deployed the balloon said it is not Orwellian in nature. Instead, it was measuring radio-frequency waves for the Department of Defense. (OK, that does sound kind of Orwellian.) He said the DoD and telecommunications companies often hire his firm to measure the waves to see how strong the signals are in a certain area. Think the bars on your cell phone showing how strong your signal is.
A radio-wave-detecting balloon above Rodgers Forge
“Many of the Department of Defense’s communications are based on radio frequencies, so mapping them is of real importance,” said Curt Westergard, president of Digital Design and Imaging Services, based in northern Virginia.
He said there was no camera on board the balloon, which was about 800 feet above ground, and that no photos of residents, or anything else, were shot.
Huh, then why does it seem to be attached to an Air Photos Live billboard, also showing a half-orange round balloon aloft? Weird.