 |
Active Denial Technology: Directed Energy Weapons
The Active Denial System, a nonlethal energy weapon system developed by Raytheon, will be turned over to the U.S. military next month. The vehicle-mounted system disables enemy soldiers or crowds with a painful beam of electromagnetic energy that inflicts a disabling, burning pain over the body by triggering heat receptors in the skin.
(From Raytheon Beam Controls Mobs)
Wade Smith, deputy director of this program for Raytheon, has voluntarily felt the beam during testing. "This is an effect that literally gets under your skin," said Smith, "I can assure you, once you come in contact with the beam, you will be inclined to stop whatever you are doing."
Active Denial Technology uses a transmitter to send a tight beam of 95-Ghz millimeter waves; the energy reaches the subject and penetrates less than 1/64th of an inch into the skin. A two-second burst can heat the skin to a temperature of 130 degrees Fahrenheit. The sensation is like that experienced when touching an ordinary light bulb; the flesh does not burn, however, because of the low levels of energy used. Exposure of at least 250 seconds would be required before burns would result.
The concept of energy weapons is found throughout the earliest science fiction; consider the heat ray of H.G. Wells 1898 novel War of the Worlds. In more modern works, the idea of non-lethal weapons has gained ground; for example, see the chunker from William Gibson's 1993 novel Virutal Light.
Find more information at Vehicle Mounted Active Denial System (VMADS) and Active Denial System (ADS) at the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/28/2004)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion (Back On) ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Weapon ")
TrackingPoint Smart Rifle
Not your typical 'smart bullet' approach.
Navy Shoots Down Drone, With Help From Dr. Benton Quest
Okay, so maybe it's not quite a parapower ray gun - but it works, in the real world.
DARPA's Upward Falling Payload Like Leinster's Wabbler
'The Wabbler plunged into the water... It dived swiftly... slowly, it settled downward.'- Murray Leinster, 1942.
Arafat Poisoned With Polonium?
'"This man was poisoned with a super-powerful radium salt," Rab Crane declared...'- Edmond Hamilton, 1938.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
MIT Robot Cheetah Video Shows Gait Transition
'The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power, like a cheetah's.'
TrackingPoint Smart Rifle
Not your typical 'smart bullet' approach.
'Hello, Computer!' Google Now Highlighted at IO13
'Hello, computer!'
Sky City's 220 Stories Are Go
'It rested among green parklands and... stood in total isolation, a glittering block of whites and flashing windows dotted with colors.'
CARMAT Bioprosthetic Total Human Heart Replacement
'George Walt's corporate existence proved the workability of wholly mechanical organs...'
Personal Sniffer Robots
'...The ticking combinations of the olfactory system of the hound.'
Physical Exam? We've Got Apps
See the future of handheld, personal medical devices.
The Interplanetary Internet, Vint Cerf Speaking
'This was the center of Interplanetary Communications.'
Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
'... the Scarab [flying robot] buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might...'
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'
Japan's Nursing Home Robot Plan
Let's make the Roujin Z-0001 Robotic Bed!
Samsung Smart TVs With Gesture Control
'He waved his hand and the circuit switched abruptly.'
Swiss HCPVT Giant Photovoltaic 'Flower'
'...leaning against one of the slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector.'
Mini-Livers Made By 3D Printer
Organleggers may experience an employment downturn.
Smartphone Sensor System Tracks Gunfire
'Sound trackers on the roof could zero in on weapons action...'
Bacteria Now Make Biofuel Like Oil
'They have ... germs that eat pretty near anything, and produce oil as a waste product.'
