Re: Auto-HERF: Car Chase Tech That's Really Hot

[Major Variola (ret)]

At 06:41 PM 2/4/05 -0800, Steve Schear wrote:
>At 10:15 AM 2/4/2005, R.A. Hettinga wrote:
>
>>  "The beautiful part of using the (microwave) energy is that it
leaves the
>>suspect in control of the car," he said. "He can steer, he can brake,
he
>>just can't accelerate."
>
>Sorry Charlie, but I think newer vehicles are moving to fly-by-wire
>steering, especially hybrids that don't have an internal combustion
engine
>running all the time so they can't easily use traditional hydraulic
servo
>steering.

Also amusing will be the congealed lenses of bystanders,
dead pacemaker wearers, fried business computers,
in addition to the accidents caused by other disabled cars.
But the cops will get their man, and the rest is collateral damage, put
it on the perp's ticket.

Besides, the ECU is shielded pretty well by the car metal and the unit
itself is shielded from the electrical ignition noise.  But someone
needs to explain that to this "executive" who fancies himself
an inventor and can't wait to suckle Caesar's teat, selling "cyber
terrorist" gizmos to
the man.

Personally I only use the magnetron & horn (concealed in my rooftop
fiberglass luggage holder) on
inconsiderate cell-phone-using drivers.   Better than jamming, because
they get to kiss their
RF front end goodbye, permenantly.  So it helps everyone for several
days, *and* sells
new handsets, helping the economy.   Works on pig radios too.

Also works on the thumpa-thumpa drivers, and when I turn the power up I
find that
Chihauha's skulls are not meant to take internal pressure; a steam
explosion is
pretty messy, and fuzzy dice don't really clean the insides of
windshields terribly well.

Re: Auto-HERF: Car Chase Tech That's Really Hot

[Steve Schear]

At 10:15 AM 2/4/2005, R.A. Hettinga wrote:
 "The beautiful part of using the (microwave) energy is that it leaves the
suspect in control of the car," he said. "He can steer, he can brake, he
just can't accelerate."
Sorry Charlie, but I think newer vehicles are moving to fly-by-wire 
steering, especially hybrids that don't have an internal combustion engine 
running all the time so they can't easily use traditional hydraulic servo 
steering.

Steve 

Auto-HERF: Car Chase Tech That's Really Hot

[R.A. Hettinga]

Wired News


Car Chase Tech That's Really Hot 
By Cyrus Farivar?

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,66473,00.html

02:00 AM Feb. 03, 2005 PT

If a Los Angeles-area scientist has his way, car chases may become as
antiquated as horse-mounted cavalry.

 James Tatoian, chief executive of Eureka Aerospace in Pasadena,
California, is developing a system that uses microwave energy to interfere
with microchips inside cars. Once the chip is overloaded with excessive
current, the car ceases to function, and will gradually decelerate on its
own, he said.


 "If you put approximately 10 or 15 kilovolts per meter on a target for a
few seconds, you should be able to bring it to a halt," Tatoian said.

 Most cars built in the United States since 1982 have some type of on-board
microprocessor. Today, the processors are advanced enough to control
functions such as fuel injection and GPS equipment.

 Eureka Aerospace's High Power Electromagnetic System consists of a series
of wires arranged in a 5-foot-by-4-foot rectangular array. The interference
is emitted in a conical shape outward from the device.

 Tatoian said that while he is not the first to come up with the idea of
using electromagnetic interference to stop cars, he has been able to reduce
the size and power consumption of such a device so that it would be much
more portable.

 It is small enough such that it could be mounted onto a helicopter, or
onto a law enforcement pursuit vehicle -- an application that interests the
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

 Eureka Aerospace hopes to have a working prototype that the sheriff's
department can test by late summer. The National Institute of Justice and
the U.S. Marine Corps may also be potential early clients. The company's
early tests indicate that the car-stopping device should be functional at a
range of 300 feet.

 Cmdr. Sid Heal, who evaluates technology for the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department, said that after seeing a preliminary demonstration of
the device last year, he was very enthusiastic about its prospects.

 "Everybody on the globe is interested in a technology like this," he said.
"Every law enforcement agency and every military agency in the world will
jump on this. I can say that with absolute confidence."

 In current situations where police need to disable a car they are
pursuing, sometimes the officers must resort to spike strips, which are
designed to puncture the vehicle's tires. Heal said that with an
electromagnetic interference system, a potentially dangerous outcome (such
as loss of control from flat tires) could be avoided.

 "The beautiful part of using the (microwave) energy is that it leaves the
suspect in control of the car," he said. "He can steer, he can brake, he
just can't accelerate."

 Another benefit to such a technology, Heal said, is that it would give
officers the ability to pinpoint where they want to stop a car -- on a
freeway overpass, for instance -- which would limit a suspect's
opportunities for escape.

 "It's going to change law enforcement tactics," he said.

 If the technology is able to prove worthy, it may also change the behavior
of potential criminals. Heal said most people who lead police on car chases
have never committed such an act before, and they might think twice if they
recall the presence of such a device.

 "You would automatically remember you can't get away," he said. "What I
think we're going to get is compliance. That would be a breakthrough beyond
anything of what anyone has provided in the past."

-- 
-
R. A. Hettinga 
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation 
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'