Posted on 01/03/2006 4:23:08 PM PST by SandRat
WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2006 – Troops conducting urban operations soon will have the capabilities of superheroes, being able to sense through 12 inches of concrete to determine if someone is inside a building.
The new "Radar Scope" will give warfighters searching a building the ability to tell within seconds if someone is in the next room, Edward Baranoski from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Special Projects Office, told the American Forces Press Service.
By simply holding the portable, handheld device up to a wall, users will be able to detect movements as small as breathing, he said.
The Radar Scope, developed by DARPA, is expected to be fielded to troops in Iraq as soon as this spring, Baranoski said. The device is likely to be fielded to the squad level, for use by troops going door to door in search of terrorists.
The Radar Scope will give warfighters the capability to sense through a foot of concrete and 50 feet beyond that into a room, Baranoski explained.
It will bring to the fight what larger, commercially available motion detectors couldn't, he said. Weighing just a pound and a half, the Radar Scope will be about the size of a telephone handset and cost just about $1,000, making it light enough for a soldier to carry and inexpensive enough to be fielded widely.
The Radar Scope will be waterproof and rugged, and will run on AA batteries, he said.
"It may not change how four-man stacks go into a room (during clearing operations)," Baranoski said. "But as they go into a building, it can help them prioritize what rooms they go into. It will give them an extra degree of knowledge so they know if someone is inside."
Even as the organization hurries to get the devices to combat forces, DARPA already is laying groundwork for bigger plans that build on this technology.
Proposals are expected this week for the new "Visi Building" technology that's more than a motion detector. It will actually "see" through multiple walls, penetrating entire buildings to show floor plans, locations of occupants and placement of materials such as weapons caches, Baranoski said.
"It will give (troops) a lot of opportunity to stake out buildings and really see inside," he said. "It will go a long way in extending their surveillance capabilities."
The device is expected to take several years to develop. Ultimately, servicemembers will be able to use it simply by driving or flying by the structure under surveillance, Baranoski said.
But it also depends on the material. Conductive surfaces tend to reflect all EM. For example, the metal sides of a microwave oven or the walls in an elevator block EM radiation no matter what the frequency.
But for non-metals, it depends a lot more on the frequency and on the material.
If someone is talking to Al Queda, I want the government to know. And I'd like them to know without creating additional opportunities for leaks!
"An 'unreasonable' one is"........
also one obtained on false pretenses or evidence, or a blank warrant signed by a judge in advance, too vague in it's description, etc. etc., the sort used constantly NOW!
info ping....
Even if it means warrantless searching? Push to repeal the Fourth Amendment, then. Or declare martial law.
There goes our privacy, bitt. This is definitely the work of Rumsfeld. Darn that Bush administration!
:)
Watch for the New York Times to publish the blueprints and all technical specifications for the device.
Hmm i was wondering when those Xbox and Ps2 gaming tools were going to surface in real time just wait till you all see what's around the corner at every turn .
And you thought you were just playing a Game !
And we act surprised when a study comes out that the majority of high school seniors believe that newspaper stories should have to be approved by the government before publication.
It means a police officer can't do a search unless he has a good reason to believe that the person being searched has committed a crime.
He he he
I swiping that hope ya dont mind !
One thing that we can do is change peoples attitudes about allowing private citizens to enforce the law. This is a big taboo with a lot of people and the idea is usually scoffed at and derided. Many think it is outright illegal and dangerous.
Let's change the laws so that we can help the government do things that they are prohibited by the constitution from doing. Give us back the right to wiretap, keep dossiers on suspicious characters, exchange information on terrorists and criminals.
If the government is prohibited from measuring radiation from buildings then let us do it. If they can't wiretap the crooks, we should be allowed to. The Constitution restricts the government, not the people.
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