Microwave "gun" could end police chases
03-02-05, 09:33 AM
#1
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Microwave "gun" could end police chases
March 1, 2005
Pasadena, California - A system being developed by Eureka Aerospace in California may help stop criminals in their tracks and avoid police chases, its developers say.
James Tatoian, chief executive of Eureka, says the High Power Electromagnetic System is designed to disable cars, such as those fleeing police, using bursts of microwave energy.
"Since the 1970s, every car is built with some sort of microprocessor controlled system," says Tatoian. "The ignition control and fuel pump control a lot of vital car systems. If you introduce a parasitic current into their wires, it leads to a power surge which in turn burns out those microprocessors." Once the car's chips are disabled, the vehicle will gradually slow to a halt.
Tatoian says the company's experimental device isn't the first or only system designed to attack cars. Other companies have developed similar concepts and prototypes; like Eureka, they are partially funded by a U.S. military research project that seeks to study the feasibility of "less than lethal" weapons. But Tatoian believes his designers and researchers have come further in terms of power, portability and usability than other solutions.
The device, still in development, weighs about 90 kg and fits inside a car, with its microwave antennae mounted on the roof. In tests, it produced enough power to burn out chips in cars up to 100 metres away.
source : canadiandriver.com
Pasadena, California - A system being developed by Eureka Aerospace in California may help stop criminals in their tracks and avoid police chases, its developers say.
James Tatoian, chief executive of Eureka, says the High Power Electromagnetic System is designed to disable cars, such as those fleeing police, using bursts of microwave energy.
"Since the 1970s, every car is built with some sort of microprocessor controlled system," says Tatoian. "The ignition control and fuel pump control a lot of vital car systems. If you introduce a parasitic current into their wires, it leads to a power surge which in turn burns out those microprocessors." Once the car's chips are disabled, the vehicle will gradually slow to a halt.
Tatoian says the company's experimental device isn't the first or only system designed to attack cars. Other companies have developed similar concepts and prototypes; like Eureka, they are partially funded by a U.S. military research project that seeks to study the feasibility of "less than lethal" weapons. But Tatoian believes his designers and researchers have come further in terms of power, portability and usability than other solutions.
The device, still in development, weighs about 90 kg and fits inside a car, with its microwave antennae mounted on the roof. In tests, it produced enough power to burn out chips in cars up to 100 metres away.
source : canadiandriver.com
03-02-05, 09:57 AM
#3
Lexus Fanatic
Originally Posted by 1SICKLEX
Its the police version of Fast and Furious II......
So basially they will hit your car with a device that will cause damage or say, taking the key out going at speed. So brakes lock, everything turns off, car doesn't shift.......
CHAOS...
So basially they will hit your car with a device that will cause damage or say, taking the key out going at speed. So brakes lock, everything turns off, car doesn't shift.......
CHAOS...
When the power-steering pump shuts off a car becomes very hard to steer.Some cars, like the Saturn VUE, get around this with electric power-steering pumps.
I like the concept of police microwaves in general, but there are going to be some tricky legal measures to address here.....like who is responsible if the police zap a car and that car kills, injures, or destroys property because the driver could no longer control it.
This is one of the main reasons we don't have steer-by-wire cars today with a little drivers' stick instead of a steering wheel, even though the concept has been around for a long time, and GM actually has done steer-by-wire concept cars. No one wants to address the liability problems if the system f - - - s up and the car becomes uncontrollable.
Last edited by mmarshall; 03-02-05 at 10:01 AM.
03-02-05, 12:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Cadd
Imagine if this thing falls on the wrong hands! If people start to get them (ebay), road rage will be taken to a next level.
03-02-05, 01:52 PM
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Originally Posted by CleanSC
Who will reimburse me for my fried 4-figure Lexus ECU when I get hit by a stray "bullet"?
-Anthony
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03-02-05, 04:22 PM
#9
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I remember a story that came out of either Scotland or Northern England a few years ago when a police cruiser experimenting with a similiar device almost got hit with an air-to-ground missile when the device's frequency attracted a missile that had just been fired by a Royal Air Force Harrier jet doing training manuvers. The missile veered off its intended course, and luckily the pilot was somehow able to disarm it and prevent it from hitting the police car.
03-02-05, 05:01 PM
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I know that's not supposed to be funny mmarshall but I got a chuckle. I wonder how close that missile got before it was disarmed? I bet they would have freaked out if they saw a missile headed for their cruiser. I would have.
03-04-05, 01:08 PM
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I think this is why it is still called "experimental' and in "development". This is just an early generation of this technology that will be improved over the course of the next decade to make it workable in the future.
03-04-05, 03:09 PM
#14
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Puts a new concept to the word "Nuke em!" 
03-04-05, 03:42 PM
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Originally Posted by Cadd
Imagine if this thing falls on the wrong hands! If people start to get them (ebay), road rage will be taken to a next level.
Not too long ago the news reported that the traffic signal-changing device that emergency vehicles have was available to the public.
