Chinese People's Liberation Army claims to have built 'world's smartest panoramic camera'

According to a report in Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, the new panoramic imaging system was developed by Liu Yu, an associate professor with the National University of Defence Technology run by the PLA.

"Without rotating the lens, the camera can record a 360 degree image of its surroundings with a resolution of up to 25 million pixels," the report said.

The camera, which won a gold medal in China's National Invention Exhibition, "is currently considered the clearest and smartest panoramic imaging system in the world," the newspaper said.

According to reports in the Chinese media, similar panoramic devices have been used as security cameras in sensitive areas such as Tiananmen Square in Beijing since 2012.

The advantage of such cameras, in comparison to traditional CCTV cameras, is that they have no blind spot.

In May, Google and action-camera maker GoPro partnered on a 16-camera system capable of recording 360 degree video for use in virtual reality headsets.