Terahertz Imagery Progresses

ke4roh writes "Since Slashdot last discussed terahertz imaging, the European Space Agency's Star Tiger project has taken terahertz images of a human hand. Some of the pictures show just how useful the imagery might be for peering through walls and such - one of the images is through a 15mm pad of paper." The EE Times has another story.

Comments

Terehertz Specs

[EvilSporkMan]

I predict the #1 use for this technology will eventually be peeking through woman's clothes.

Re:Terehertz Specs

[greechneb]

Seeing through clothing might be an option, but did they have to use this guy?

picture

video

Imagine...

[MisterFancypants]

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these taking pictures of Natalie Portman.

Great

[LordKaT]

A news story about images . . . and no images!

--LordKaT

Yea but...

[welthqa]

In Alias the terahertz camera could see thru 30 meters of earth.

Practical Application

[BoomerSooner]

Airport screening. This reminds me of the airport in Total Recall where Arnold had a gun. Very cool. 4th Amendment notwithstanding.

Re:Practical Application

[Arcturax]

They are already working on those for airports. In a way, I will feel sorry for them having to see me naked just so I can get to my plane faster.

Thermal imaging

[Adam9]

Snip of some info from the tiger page:

Terahertz imaging can be achieved by observing the natural terahertz waves emitted by pretty much everything. Unlike light, terahertz waves are able to propagate through cloud and smoke providing a powerful advantage for certain remote sensing measurements. From a practical aspect they are also able to pass through windows, paper, clothing and in certain instances even walls.

Sounds like thermal imaging on steroids. Eventually, would this become the standard military surveillance method that could be used on a UAV in enemy or (god forbid) domestic airspace?

Old news

[redbeard_ak]

These things have been available in comic books for years.

Oh great

[creative_name]

As if the black car sitting outside my house wasn't enough, now I have to deal with this kind of government surveillance too!? At least now I know where they got the pictures of my Anti RIAA boxers from...

useless

[steelerguy]

until you can make out a nipple...

moths

[greechneb]

According to the article, the frequencies are used only certain moths. It also talks about using the frequency to carry terabit wireless networks...

Does this mean that that I could use the wireless network to create swarm of attack moths that can see through reams of paper.

I can finally overtake the pointy haired boss and rule the office!

Can see through clothing...

[$$$$$exyGal]

... the project has also released pictures of the human body imaged through clothing.

Where are those pictures ;-)? Weren't there some night-vision camera's that also did that?

--sex

Is it just me,

[xercist]

or does the repeated use of the "St(PICTURE OF A STAR)rTiger" logo on the pictures page make the whole thing look considerably less like a professional research project?

Apple.

[Daleks]

Just wait, by tomorrow morning Apple will have an article on their webpage about the "Terahertz Myth." Soon afterwards AMD will release the Athlon XP 1100000+, but it will really run at 700000 Mhz.

Posted from Mac OS X.

It's passive.

[dark-nl]

The picture of the hand, at least, was taken using just the rays the hand emits naturally.

Good to see some constuctive devices being made

[Neophytus]

A device that can be used to see through walls has potential anti-terrorism uses, and if tweaked it could probably be used as a replacement for the mildly-dangerous xray technology. Also being able to be used for communications, this is a step in the right direction for research into radio technologys.

Um...

[Elwood P Dowd]

From the article:

Everything gives off terahertz radiation naturally, and like radio waves -- but unlike heat or light -- the waves can pass through some solid objects.

Light waves can't pass through solid objects? Except, you know, glass. Or clear plastic. Visible light can't pass through things that are opaque, moron. That's why they invented the damn word in the first place.

Dude

[Exiler]

Locker room, they're already naked!

Re:Dude

[Yorrike]

You'll want one of these then.

Conservative SCOTUS ruled against thermal imaging

[Artifice_Eternity]

It's possible that Ashcroft will seek the use of this and other types of remote imaging technology in the future. But for now, he can't use them without a warrant.

Surprisingly, the Supreme Court ruled last year -- in an opinion written by Scalia (conservative) and joined by Souter (moderate) and Thomas (conservative), as well as Ginsburg and Breyer (both liberal) -- that the use of thermal imaging to detect marijuana grow lamps inside a house was illegal:

The District Court [had previously] ruled that the thermal imaging device "is a non-intrusive device which emits no rays or beams and shows a crude visual image of the heat being radiated from the outside of the house"; it "did not show any people or activity within the walls of the structure" it "cannot penetrate walls or windows to reveal conversations or human activities"; and "(n)o intimate details of the home were observed."

The Court of Appeals initially reversed this ruling, but reversed itself, ruling that Kyllo has shown no expectation of privacy because he had made no attempt to conceal the heat escaping from his home, and even if he had, there was no reasonable expectation of privacy because the imager "did not expose any intimate details of Kyllo's life," only "amorphous 'hot spots' on the roof and exterior wall."

The U. S. Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals. Justice Scalia's decision pointed out that the Fourth Amendment provides that "(t)he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreason able searches and seizures shall not be violated." It cited a 1961 ruling, Silverman v. United States, ruling, "At the very core" of the Fourth Amendment "stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion." It held that with few exceptions, the question whether a warrantless search of a home is reasonable and hence constitutional must be answered no.

The decision discussed at length the change in technology availing the government of visual surveillance, and the historic tie of visual surveillance to trespass. However, the court observed, visual surveillance has been historically lawful, because the eye cannot be guilty of trespass. The decision referred back to the 1986 Ciraolo case where the Supreme Court ruled that aerial surveillance with the naked eye was permissible without a search warrant, even if the police were looking at plants growing within the back yard, which known legally as being within the "curtilage" of the home.

In his discussion of the effect of the evolution of technology on privacy rights, Justice Scalia stated that technology enabling human flight has uncovered portions of the house and its curtilage that once were private. But, he held, the Kyllo case had to confront the limits on the power of technology to shrink the realm of guaranteed privacy.

What the court concluded is that a search is permissible without a search warrant if the surveillance was normally available to the public without additional technology. Thus, looking down from an airplane is permissible, but using an eavesdropping device is not.

The distinction that "off-the-wall observations" could be permissible while "through the wall" surveillance could be impermissible would lead to a trap as technology advances. The court held that any other approach "would leave the homeowner at the mercy of advancing technology-including imaging technology that could discern all human activity in the home."

It looks to me like terahertz imaging would fall under this ruling, and thus be illegal without a warrant. For now, anyway...

Astronomy that can be done with this?

[dpp]

that's cool. What sort of astrnomy can be done with this?

I work for an observatory that uses these wavelengths to do astronomy. At these wavelengths you're mostly looking at the cold material in the universe --- stuff like interstellar gas, dust, and so on.