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Electromagnetic Pulse Gun To Help In Police Chases
adeelarshad82 writes "In an attempt to put an end to dangerous, high-speed police chases, scientists at Eureka Aerospace have developed an electromagnetic pulse gun called the High Power Electromagnetic System, or HPEMS. It develops a high-intensity directed pulse of electricity designed to disable a car's microprocessor system, shutting down all of its systems. Right now the prototype seen in a video fills an entire lab, but they have plans to shrink its size to hand-held proportions. Some form of this is already featured in OnStar-equipped vehicles though the electromagnetic signal used to disable the vehicle is beamed via satellite, and doesn't cripple the in-car computer, but rather puts it into a mode that allows police to easily catch and then stop the fleeing criminal."
You bet - I'll be able to disable cop cars chasing me.
I mean, _criminals_ will. Ahem.
I wonder if it works on helicopters also?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
How the heck is this similar to the Onstar system? This uses a directed EMP to disrupt electronic engine control, Onstar uses a built-in remote kill switch. That's like saying shooting a lightbulb is the same as turning off the switch.
Um. The electromagnetic signal that can be sent from a satellite to an OnStar-equipped vehicle is certainly not any form of an electromagnetic pulse. It's a radio signal encoded with a command telling a microprocessor to disable power to the ignition.
Who writes this mess?
I can see the fnords!
I'm not sure I like the sound of this. Consider the lesson of the taser. Now that the cops have a weapon that doesn't kill or maim, they've gotten increasingly slap-happy about using it. Cops were at least cautious about using firearms, least they have to defend themselves against using deadly force. But they're happy to pull out the taser at the drop of a hat.
This may sound like a good idea, but I suspect the cops will be using this a lot more liberally than intended.
American Third Position
Finally, a real choice!
Sure, but not intentionally. They'll also "test" it on parked vehicles, tv sets, computers, iPods, traffic light controllers, and anything else that happens to get into the "beam" as the cops treat it as a precise magic car-killer that affects only cars and only the ones they aim at.
Eventually there will be an "underground" business in installing filters and shielding. It will become illegal to possess ferrite beads without a license.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
1. It will kill the car, not merely create a carefully programmed disabling like the Onstar system. Most likely this leads to a car crash and quite likely require complete replacement of all electronics.
2. As others stated, pacemakers, watches, cellphones, laptops, etc. will also be affected.
3. This will get into the hands of criminals. I am quite frankly they don't already have it. Here are some of the things I think people might use it on:
ATM's If there is a 1 in 100 chance of it malfunctioning and spitting out the money, then ATM's will be hit 100 times.
Toll machines - obvious
Red lights (and the cameras aimed at them).
cop cars
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
A focused EMP beam from a gun? What a great way to destroy video cameras & alarm systems! It sure would make robbery a LOT easier.
Good point. The electrical leads used in a typical pacemaker may very well be vulnerable to such a pulse. If the EMP is powerful enough to fry the microprocessor in a car I'd bet that it is also powerful enough to at least temporarily disrupt the function of someone's pacemaker.
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
> What happens when a person going 70mph suddenly loses control of their
> vehicle?
The run into somebody and kill them. Just like they do when being chased at high speed.
> How accurate can that sort of gun be?
It cannot be accurate at all, but the cops will become convinced that it is laser-like.
> Over what sort of angle and distance is it will effective?
The field will be blob-shaped, with slightly more range forward than back. It will only wreck cars at a fairly short range but will destroy unshielded electronic equipment (cellphones, 'Pods, laptops...) at a much greater range.
> Is there a way to shield the car with a faraday cage to prevent this sort
> of thing from happening? And if not, wouldn't this just mess up the police
> cars?
A bit of filtering and shielding will suffice, and the cop cars will get it. So will the vehicles of some criminals.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
build one of these
Use a mile of copper wire for the inside windings, and several turns of flexible copper pipe for the outer ones. Not directional, but it WILL disable a lot of the nearby electronics while in operation.
You mean I don't have to spend 100 bucks on bulbs, ammo and spackle every month?!
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Now that engineers have successfully made technology invisible, all technology is equivalent. Notice that no one in the health care debate suggested controlling costs at the technology level, only at the "insurance/payout" stage. Technology is no longer suggested as an answer, only until a solution is available on the market (e.g., video conference in lieu of commuting is not a government or business priority).
There are now two classes of people: those that don't get it, and the minority that do.
Eureka Aerospace can call it "HPEMS", but really it is just another HERF device, and it is certainly not a new thing. In fact you can buy kits from places like this and build your own.
This is a High Energy Radio Frequency (HERF) gun not an EMP weapon, although the two are very similar in their final effects. EMP devices are omnidirectional and create a blanket pulse across a far larger portion of the EM spectrum. HERF affects a much smaller part of the spectrum, which allows the generating electronics to be tuned for higher efficiency and allowing the antennas to be directional. EMP devices are usually much higher power that fry the electronics, whereas HERF devices typically only cause disruption (requiring pulses to be sustained to prevent the normal function from restarting).
It will shut down the engine computers of most modern cars, but cars with carburetors and mechanical based ignition systems (ie. distributors) and diesel engines without electronic injection will be unnafected. While this may affect most cars and trucks made since 1970, it does not include them all.
To get to the power output that will stop a vehicle from distances usually seen in car chases would require a massive arrangement, capacitor bank, and a dedicated power supply to keep the HERF pulses sustained. This certainly will not be the kind of device that will be mounted on police cars any time soon.
I have to also wonder how effective it would be in an actual car chase (assuming they could find as way of making it mobile). They would typically be shooting it at the rear of the car where the bodywork would act as shielding for the engine computer, and there is nothing to stop portions of the RF pulses reflecting off the metal bodywork and disabling chasing police cars.