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Optical Cellphones

Posted by timothy on from the you-can't-hear-me dept.

foondog writes "Here is a story over at News.com about optical cellphones. It seems that the Department of Defense has given a grant to the University of California to develop optical cellphones that are faster and more secure. This sounds a little strange to me since you would need a line of site with no obstacles in the way to use this. The article doesn't explain how this might work."

1 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. The East German secret service used this by uradu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not an actual cell phone, but a point-to-point intercom involving binoculars and infrared transmissions. The voice was converted to (analog) IR light and transmitted through optics that created a very narrow beam. At the other end, the IR receiver was mounted in the eye piece of the binoculars and converted the light back to sound. The two devices had to be aimed very accurately at each other. That way a spy in the west could communicate with his pimp in the east across the border with very low probability of interception. They actually had this on the History Channel a few years back.