Posted on 11/14/2007 10:36:22 PM PST by BGHater
Researchers at Eureka Aerospace are turning a fictional concept from the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious into reality: they're creating an electromagnetic system that can quickly bring a vehicle to a stop. The system, which can be attached to an automobile or aircraft carrier, sends out pulses of microwave radiation to disable the microprocessors that control the central engine functions in a car. Such a device could be used by law enforcement to stop fleeing and noncooperative vehicles at security checkpoints, or as perimeter protection for military bases, communication centers, and oil platforms in the open seas.
The system has been tested on a variety of stationary vehicles and could be ready for deployment in automobiles within 18 months, says James Tatoian, the chief executive officer of Eureka Aerospace and the project's leader.
To bring an opposing vehicle to a halt, the 200-pound device is attached to the roof of a car. The car's alternator serves as the system's power source, whose direct-current (DC) power feeds into a power supply. This generates a stream of 50-nanosecond-duration pulses of energy. These pulses are amplified to 640 kilovolts using a 16-stage Marx generator.
The 640 kilovolts of DC power are then converted into microwaves using an oscillator that consists of a pair of coupled transmission lines and several spark-gap switches. Finally, a specially designed antenna beams the microwave energy toward an opposing vehicle through a part of the car, such as the windshield, window, grill, or spacing between the hood and main body, that is not made of metal. (Metal acts as a shield against microwave energy.)
The radiated microwave energy will upset or damage the vehicle's electronic systems, particularly the microprocessors that control important engine functions, such as the ignition control, the fuel injector, and the fuel-pump control. However, electronic control modules were not built into most cars until 1972, hence the system will not work on automobiles made before that year.
The concept of disabling vehicles' electronic system with microwaves was first tested in 1997 by the U.S. Army using bulky and heavy military equipment. But the Eureka Aerospace system is only six to eight feet long (antennae included) and not quite three feet wide. "It is much more efficient and compact than anything previously used in military vehicles," says Tatoian.
The device's peak power output is two gigawatts, although the average power emitted in a single shot is about 100 watts. Each radiated pulse lasts about 50 nanoseconds. All the test cars' engines were shut off using a single pulse at a distance of approximately 15 meters, making the total energy output 100 joules, says Tatoian. His company is currently developing a more compact high-power microwave pulse system with the goal of disabling engines at ranges from as far away as 200 meters.
"I have no doubt that if you set up a microprocessor and get a high-powered, well-focused beam of energy on [a car], you can disrupt its operation," says Peter Fisher, a professor of physics and the division head in particle and nuclear experimental physics at MIT. But to be able to deploy such a system safely will take some work, he says.
Imagine if a police officer is in a high-speed chase near a shopping mall and turns on one of these systems to stop the perpetrator: a lot of elevators have microprocessor controls, so if the officer is pointing the device in the direction of the mall, he or she could end up trapping 12 people in an elevator, says Fisher. Many other electronic systems, such as an automated teller machine or a security system, could also be disrupted.
Furthermore, Fisher cautions that, while the system may seem like an easier and more efficient solution than spike strips, it could still cause a huge accident if a car is disabled and a driver loses steering control. The system could pose a safety concern as well: radiation can burn human skin, and microwaves have long been suspected of being a cancer-causing agent.
At the moment, the most practical application for the system would be in the U.S. Army or Marine Corp, for perimeter protection of areas that are generally remote, says Fisher. Initial funding for the project came from the U.S. Marine Corp, but now Eureka Aerospace is looking to other governmental agencies for financial support as the company continues to work to make the device smaller, lighter, and more efficient. (Tatoian says that details regarding future work with the military are confidential.)
I thought speed limits were about cutting down on fuel consumption. And as an extra revenue source
Lol! That's what "they" tell you. The 85th percentile is what generates the most revenue with the fewest objections.
Or how about near an airport...
In truth things like this shouldn’t even be be developed because it can’t cost that much to acquire one once the police can get them and a terrorist could do amazing economic damage with one - say downtown Manhattan... Silicon Valley... NASA... An Oil refinery... Or any large chemical plant...
All without leaving a trace and without being directly on the property...
Dangerous...
Yall really want the TazorCops using these?
Anyways, the reason I brought all this up to begin with is to show you how controled our lives really really are by government. every aspect of it is studied and controled in one way or another.
Media of course you can see especially now with the internet. On your TV, you should ignore all American news and watch only world news just for one week. then switch back to only American station news. You’ll realize that we get NONE or very little of world news. Lot’s of nasty stuff going on they don’t want us to see, because it would make Americans a little more patriotic and supportive of our role in the world.
brilliant. like I said, it’s about the money not saving lives. same goes for cig taxes. They want to keep it at the sweet spot on the laffer curve so that revenues are optimal
Live in the largest English speaking city you can find that has a primarily cash economy and diverse but very well-integrated population. Shop only at small family owned stores, never at a chain. Never shop at the same store more than once every couple of months—best if you pay a family for room and board. Don’t use a cell phone. Never use the internet. And drive an old car.
That’s what liberty is going to look like, thanks either to 911 or President Bush’s administration, depending on one’s point of view.
This is why I laugh at those who think "legalizing" pot will be so great. It won't be. It will just make it more expensive, and those who try smuggle illegal stuff will still be criminals, still violate laws dealing with controlled substances, (tobacco, alcohol and firearms are "legal" controlled substances)
As soon as the government "controls" anything, you're taxed and screwed.
"Liberty" was lost long before 9/11 or Bush. Wake up. every time you walk into a chain store your bank card, credit cards etc. can and are read. "they" can track everything you do if they want to now, and have been able to do so for decades now. Do you have a bank account? Do you use a debit card? By gas with it? pay for groceries with it? work? The only way you can avoid anyone from tracing where you have been, what your habits are is by using strictly cash. But you still have to cash your paycheck, pay taxes, contribute to your number. (s.s.)
“The only way you can avoid anyone from tracing where you have been, what your habits are is by using strictly cash. But you still have to cash your paycheck, pay taxes, contribute to your number. (s.s.)”
Hence my mention of living in a city with a primarily cash economy.
Note that I didn’t say it had to be in the US ...
Insurance? A drivers licience? health insurance? Use any services, DMV, a hospital, go to school? own a home?
It's all part of living in a society in many cases, and part of that is being a visible member of it.
A libertarian by your desecription, is the seedy looking suspicious character that slinks about in the shadows... doesn't drive a car, possibly owns a mule that he brings to town once a month to load up a sack of flour and sugar on, and take back to his dug out in the hills....
No, I do not want to live in a "libertarian" society either. I would rather live in a community where certain aspects of life are much improved when society works toward common goals, building a school, paving roads, a sewer system and water treatment plant, etc. Some taxation is necessary to live in a civilized world. A libertarian world would be miserable, cold hearted, barbaric. To be anything else and you aren't a libertarian.
Most people realize this and that's why nobody is a libertarian, (except those who really don't know what being a true libertarian requires)
social conservatism is best.
none to be found anywhere on the planet. There are some villages in Africa that are near cashless however. You can hide out Libertarian there. Just make sure you bring your own goats, chickens, and cows with you when you move there. They are kinda hard to come by if you show up empty handed. It would be Libertarian wonderland though. People dying all around you when they get sick; Dirty, pothole filled 'roads', no electricity,( unless you can make your own somehow) no sewers (except the local stream) no water (again- except the local stream)
Libertarian heaven...
Al Qaida is watching Free Republic
all I can say is...
I WANT ONE!!!:-)
BTW: The doors in the REAL General Lee didn’t open like the ones in your pic.
Pace makers are magnetically adjusted now, though a microwave pulse that strong would probably fry any thing with micro processors if aimed wrong!
Don’t “wave’ me bro!
And you folks laugh at the tinfoilers.
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