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Stopping Cars With Microwave Radiation
Ponca City, We Love You writes "Researchers have created an electromagnetic system that can quickly bring a vehicle to a stop by sending out pulses of microwave radiation to disable the microprocessors that control the central engine functions in a car. A 200-pound unit attached to the roof of a police car can be used to stop fleeing and noncooperative vehicles. The average power emitted in a single shot is about 10 kilowatts at 100 hertz and since each radiated pulse lasts about 50 nanoseconds, the total energy output is 100 joules at a distance of 15 meters. One concern with the device is that it could cause an accident if a car is disabled and a driver loses steering control. The device could also disable other vehicles in the area so the most practical application may be for perimeter protection at remote areas. Criminals have a work-around too. Since electronic control modules were not built into most cars until 1972, the system will not work on automobiles made before that year."
What happens when criminals get their hands on this and start disabling police cars as well? :D
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Grandma was pulled over by the sheriff
Coming home from our house Christmas eve.
Cops say microwaves can be used safely,
But as for me and Grandpa, we disbelieve.
Not just for hats anymore.
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
This is absolutely useless against old diesel cars. I don't need no stinkin' computers or sparkplugs.
So you put a Faraday cage around the car's ECM. Problem solved?
Also, are these rays energetic enough for, say, crowd control? And what if the cops are chasing someone with a pacemaker?
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
Seams a lot more useful in a war zone. At a roadblock in Iraq i think people would appreciate their engine getting shut off a little more the getting shot at.
It could even be set up on a speed trap so that if you enter a road block at a certain speed it would shut off the car automatically.
I guess once again the problem may lie in the fact that most cars in Iraq and other hot spots may not have the Electronic components needed for this. But hey if it stops something like http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4323209.stm then i think its worth it?
-EL
Shield the microprocessor with some left-over casserole. Microwaves never fully penetrate the the center of that mass.
Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
So when there is a chase in a populated area, the cops will leave a wake of disabled cars? That will be fun to clean up later...
Knight Industries K.I.T.T. 2000 was able to do just this. ;)
With that said, if the steering somehow could not be controlled with the PCM disabled, I smell lawsuit. This computer killer thing would also disable any other computerized device... like airbags.
The game.
I wonder if military vehicles have their vehicle's CPU's shielded...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Is a device that causes those obnoxious Bass units that shake every car for 3 blocks to implode. Now that would be a useful gadget.
The same shunts that are used to protect home electronics will work here just fine. However, few will have the forethought to implement VDRs, beads, and other tricks to dissipate the load that this thing produces. Microwaves, of course, don't operate at 100hz, but the pulses are designed to deliver big bangs of electrons. This means that all of the components in the chase car have to be protected, too; this is also fairly inexpensive to do, but requires creating classes of chase cars with protected integral electronics-- many items of which will not be the circuits running the car, rather the notebook, 4.7ghz, and other electronics that public safety people use... radios, and so on. While the antenna for this can be highly directional, you're still looking at lots of jumping electrons to dance around devices that don't like that.
In all: bad idea. Instead, put unique RFIDs in cars, and simply logon and turn them off. Cleaner.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
If you are pursing a fleeing suspect, the last thing you need is 200 pounds mounted on your roof. This would seriously affect the way the cop cruiser handles.
Out of order? Fuck! Even in the future nothing works! - Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) "Spaceballs"
I've run diesel engines with NO electric power (dead/frozen battery, broken alternator belt). As long as the fuel is gravity-fed, it'll run.
Fat chance stopping someone who decided to take a front-end loader to make an "ATM withdrawal".
First a comment: "The average power emitted in a single shot is about 10 kilowatts at 100 hertz". What's that, a microwave at 100 Hz?? Microwaves have frequencies at the GHz range... Second: probably a trivial amount of shielding (likely already in place in the car, *if* the ECM is inside the engine compartment) would suffice to stop this since the penetration depth of a GHz signal is very very small in metals (microns of metal would block it). Seems like a nice toy, probably not very useful, possibly dangerous to people around (e.g. with a pacemaker). Just a ploy to get a government grant...
However, steer-by-wire systems are quickly coming into play in America, especially on some of the lower-end GM products. Now I'm no GM engineer yet, but from what I gather the steering system is either on the GMLAN high speed bus or it has its own bus but still gets data off GMLAN.
Now suppose the ECM stops giving out speed information on the GMLAN bus. Hopefully there is a contingency plan in the steering logic so that you can still have some steering I/O even without the vehicle speed information, but if the output isnt on its own bus, I cant say I'd want to be in that car.
I'd like to try to explain why their microwave design might work, and why the "faraday cage" argument isn't enough: Differential vs. Common-Mode Signals. It's because of all the devices connected to the car's central engine controller.
Lots of old school communications protocols are based on single-ended signaling, where one voltage represents a 0 or 1. This includes RS232, Parallel, and even ISA and PCI slots on your motherboard. However, almost everything new that's outside the computer is based on differential signaling -- reading the differential voltage between two wires. This includes 10/100/1000BaseT ethernet over twisted pair, USB, Firewire, etc.
Here's the key difference: when you get noise coupling onto your signal, whether it's a pulse from the engine ignition coil firing or from this car-stopping microwave device, it tends to be the case that the voltage of *both* of the differential wires is increased by the same amount -- so that when the voltages are subtracted, the effect of the noise cancels out.
However, this exploits the fact that no devices have an infinitely large common-mode range. That is, the average voltage of the differential pair must be within some predefined limit, or your circuit won't work. By putting in a big enough pulse, this microwave device might be able to move charges around on the outside of the car body (which happens to be the ground that most devices hook to) enough to move the voltages significantly. This would cause any devices (think an oxygen sensor or a tachometer) to act as though they were momentarily dead.
Thus, even with differential signaling (which cars already use), it's possible to break things by putting too much common-mode noise on top. See Wikipedia article.
--
Can you code? Want to become a hardware hacker? Educational microcontroller kits for a digital generation.
At least the Duke boys will be safe in that '69 Charger...
Constitutionally Correct
I hear tractor beams are much more effective at stopping large mobile objects.
To mess them up and make go out of there set limits and I just found this to day.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slot_machine
Modern slot machines are controlled by EPROM computer chips and, in large casinos, coin acceptors have become obsolete in favor of bill acceptors. These machines and their bill acceptors are designed with advanced anti-cheating and anti-counterfeiting measures and are difficult to defraud. Early computerized slot machines were sometimes defrauded through the use of cheating devices, such as the "slider" or "monkey paw" used by notorious slot cheat Tommy Glenn Carmichael. However, more recent attempts at defrauding slot machines involve manipulating the EPROM, such as by directing microwaves toward it to disrupt its proper functioning.[6] Casino insiders such as Ronald Dale Harris have also been discovered manipulating the software in slot machines in order to defraud casino operators.
REMOTE MICROWAVE JAMMER DEVICE
http://arcadenemy.freewebsitehosting.com/microwave.html
yotube video of it working on a us game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMdEZezkrZ8
Killing the CPU that controls the brakes, or randomly firing an airbag/ gearbox system, might not be clever either.
As reported in The Register, this is all likely to be shit of the bull and more useful for military use than police use.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
From TFA it looks like the 100 Hz number comes from the fact that it generates 100 pulses per second. The radio frequency that it operates is "tunable in the 350-1350 MHz range".
Which also makes me wonder why, if someone were intent on illegality, they couldn't put their own little faraday cage...
Faraday Cage: Your CPU's tinfoil hat. Never leave home without it!
HAH! I use a manual bycicle! Try EMP'ing that!
This is why I love my car.
Also, because the average car thief wouldn't even be able to *start* my car, much less actually drive away in it. It's hard to evade cops when the slightest mistake while sitting at a red light or going through a toll booth causes the engine to die.
Oh, and did I mention that to restart the car while moving, you have to put the transmission halfway in between Reverse and Neutral, turn the key, then quickly shift back over into Drive in case the magical transmission gnome decides that you were closer to Reverse than Neutral?
> No electronics to kill.
...but some police departments interpreted it to refer to the ethnicity of the offending driver, as opposed to how crispy you wanted them to be.
That's why this microwave transmitter has a dial with the following settings:
Microprocessor Disruption (default)
Sparky Metal
Mortal Kombat Raiden
That last setting is the most noticeable. I preferred the old microwave emitter, which referred specifically to your driver:
Light
Medium
Dark
Solomon
"Twice half-assed makes an ass whole." --Solomon K. Chang
I have a vehicle built in 1981 and I know the electronics on it pretty well. The idle controller is the only part with ICs besides the modern stereo and car PC, and I believe it will simply idle rough without that controller functioning. My steering is rack and pinion, my auto transmission computer has nothing more advanced than a transistor; same for the door lock controller. Everything else is vaccum, steel cable, etc... So the date value for vehicles that are impervious to this attack can be set a little further forward.
We'll do you a favor & kill your 8-track, too.
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
RF on a wire can be shorted directly to the case with no way past due to lead inductance when coaxial feed through capacitors are used. They work well and are used on every microwave oven made. They are on the bottom of the magnitron. The fillimant leads come from the bottom inside a box. They then go through feed through capacitors to keep microwave energy from radiating out the wire.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7184256.html
photos here at the bottom of the page..
http://www.samwha.co.th/capacitor.htm
RFI suppression on motors..
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6307344.html
RFI protection for pacemakers.. PDF alert..
http://www.interferencetechnology.com/ArchivedArticles/medical/Article08web.pdf?regid=
A full filter often includes an inductor. Here is an example. PDF alert..
http://www.dearbornelectronics.com/pdf/EMIFilters.pdf
This shows performance curves of various filters. A 3 DB change is the half power point. To have the same effect on a device 3 DB less sensitive would require double the power. Many of these devices have more than 80 DB attenuation at 10 MHZ and above. This would provide a high degree of immunity as the RFI source would need to be very close and very powerful to overcome the attenuation compared to an unprotected device.
Info on ferrite beads is here...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ferrite+bead+RFI
Unlike a capacitor or inductor, a ferrite bead doesn't re-direct the RF current. It converts it to heat, and in the process, attenuates it. A capacitor on a wire, may make a tuned antenna at some frequencies. The ferrite bead is to prevent these tuned peaks by eating the power. Used in combination with a feed-through will prevent a tuned standing wave building on the wire.
A capacitor and inductor simply make a tuned circuit with a venurable frequency. Diodes, discharge tubes, resistors, and ferrite beads prevent a high Q tuned circuit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_factor
The truth shall set you free!
What happens when criminals get their hands on this and start disabling police cars as well?
What's to stop it from killing the engine to the police car?
What's to stop me from changing your quote to make it easy to counter?
Yeah, right, a "taser for cars", and thus likely to be just as abused as the taser. Who cares you fry almost anything else in the vicinity such as cell phones, PDAs, car stereo, GPS or a pacemaker..
/sarcasm
I have no idea what offence would justify the use of this gadget. Going 1 mph over the limit?
Insert
I just want to be able to take out the cop car who chases me down at speed traps.
Cop: "HAHA I'M ON UR HIGHWAYZ CLOCKIN UR CARZ!!1 OMG FIVE MILES OVAR!!!"
Me: "lol noob" *MICROWAVE-PWN*
Cop: D: WTF WALLHAX
+++ATH0
He didn't fail reading comprehension. My guess and my opinion is that it is either extreme ignorance or deliberate fraud, and maybe someone at Slashdot is taking money to post articles about companies that want "investment" money.
Fraud Alert. Fraud Alert. Fraud Alert.
Read the first comment to the article: "What happens to the pacemaker in the guy driving? Does speeding become a death sentence?"
Another comment: "If there are innocent victims in such incidents - such as hostages - how are you going to microwave the car without hurting the people?"
What about reflections? Fried police car, anyone? "I just looove the smell of burning plastic in the morning"?
I think November 13 is a little early for April Fool's day.
Quote: "These pulses are amplified to 640 kilovolts..."
Did you see the red whiskery antennas that extend in front of the car? Criminal: "There's that dorky police car again. Turn right. Microwaves only go straight." Or, are those not antennas, but an artist's rendering of microwave flames shooting from the top of the police car?
From the article: "The system has been tested on a variety of stationary vehicles and could be ready for deployment in automobiles within 18 months..."
Translations: 1) It hasn't been tested in heavy traffic. 2) As soon as we find some really, really, really dumb people with money to invest, something could happen.
Moral of the story: There is no time to play video games. You need all your time to learn about the world around you, not about fantasies. If you spend all your time with fantasies, anyone can tell you anything, and you won't be able to evaluate if it is the truth.
Quote from the story: "Finally, a specially designed antenna beams the microwave energy toward an opposing vehicle through a part of the car, such as the windshield, window, grill, or spacing between the hood and main body, that is not made of metal. (Metal acts as a shield against microwave energy.)"
Ohhhhh. It must be an opposing car, not one going in the same direction. The car must have no mirror-like surfaces. There must be holes. It can't be a camper going in the same direction.
Has no one who already commented on this story heard of firewalls, the kind in cars? Has anyone heard about tight-fitting hoods? Does the invention work only with hoopties?
Is it really true that no one who reads Slashdot has looked at the insides of a car? Does this "invention" work only with cars that don't have electronics shielded with a metal covering?
Those dumb car makers never heard of electromagnetic noise? Even though spark plug wires have 40,000 volts? Car computers have no shielding?
USB doesn't use differential pairs. There are 4 lines - power, ground, transmit, receive. It was designed to replace RS232 and parallel ports - they weren't going for great speeds. I'm actually quite impressed that USB 2.0 works as well as it does as it is a bad design.
But 1394 does use differential pairs. There are either 4 or (more commonly) 6 lines. Power, ground, transmit+, transmit-, receive+, receive-. It is possible to omit the power and ground and thereby only use 4 lines - Sony likes to do this.
It is possible that I'm wrong as I have not done hardware design since the standards were introduced - but I believe I am correct on this one.
I'm fairly certain that any system put into place would likely be focused. The inverse square of the distance works great for a source that is radiated in every direction, but when you focus it, it changes the decay rate. If not, than a flashlight or satellite dish would not any better than an open antenna. Like the difference between a candela and a lumen.
With that in mind it would not be difficult to imagine the beam missing or passing through. Think of how nasty it would be if you lock up cars in front of somebody evading police, or even in front of a persuing cop.
So if they are zapping someone and hit another car are they responsible if that car crashes? Will this affect on board safety equipment as well? ABS? Airbags? There is a lot of reliance on microprocessors in many new cars.
It would not be long after entering service before they hit the wrong car and the question becomes, how will the courts treat that?
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Just have the police car fire a car taser sticky pad at the target vehicle. That would cut down on the chance of hitting innocent bystanders pacemakers with the death ray.
Or even better yet - a CARPOON! Fire a barbed tipped harpoon at the car, and just hit the brakes. It would make for much better TV watching. Spearing the fugitive driver in the head (oops- darn) from an errant shot would be a minor detail that would need to be worked out.
..........FULL STOP.
THIS is what makes you miss your '65 Mustang?
HI, MY NAME IS ISAAC.
I see all kinds of problems with this technology.
First we all know how easy it is for Cops to misuse a device which gives them instant control over a situation. Look at how many time we hear about some Grandmother being TASED. How long do you think it will take before they start zappin cars for speeding? How about failing to clear a lane fast enough when they are trying to get through. What about residual damage to a car? The radio, your beloved iPOD, cellphone and laptop. How about the home of the innocent bystander that happens to be in path of the beam. Yes, I know that the power dissipates quickly with range but I have watched COPS and seen perps driving through someone's backyard too.
We should start selling devices to detect this type of RF burst, so innocent people can make claims against the Police Department that fried their iPod. Do you even think this device will work in a COP car. the have computers and radios galore. I was told by a cop that he can't even jump start a car anymore due to potential damage to his electronics.
YA Right, it is the same type of vapor ware as the fabled "Lightning Gun IED destroyer"
I'll be curious what happens if one of the drivers of this car is wearing a pace maker.