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RF Safe-Stop Shuts Down Car Engines With Radio Pulse
An anonymous reader writes with news of a device built by a company in the U.K. which uses pulses of electromagnetic energy to disrupt the electronic systems of modern cars, causing them to shut down and cut the engine. Here's a description of how it works:
"At one end of a disused runway, E2V assembled a varied collection of second-hand cars and motorbikes in order to test the prototype against a range of vehicles. In demonstrations seen by the BBC a car drove towards the device at about 15mph (24km/h). As the vehicle entered the range of the RF Safe-stop, its dashboard warning lights and dials behaved erratically, the engine stopped and the car rolled gently to a halt. Digital audio and video recording devices in the vehicle were also affected.''It's a small radar transmitter,' said Andy Wood, product manager for the machine. 'The RF [radio frequency] is pulsed from the unit just as it would be in radar, it couples into the wiring in the car and that disrupts and confuses the electronics in the car causing the engine to stall.'"
So there are some potentially cool applications of this - stopping a criminal in a car chase with police, for example - but it has massive potential for crime as well. Stopping cars at night, in secluded areas, to steal them and/or assault the passengers? Or causing mayhem by stopping cars on freeways, not all of which will slow at the same speed, leading to massive pile-ups.
William George
Pacemakers and implanted defibrilators monitor the function of the heart by detecting voltage gradients of milivolts. This weapon can reliably knock out electronics in a car - electronics designed to operate in a very harsh EMI environment due to the presence of the nearby igntion system and contained within the metal body of the car. An enclosure that provides a bit more protection than 5mm of glass and 70cm of flesh.
So when they say this device poses no risk to those with a pacemaker, consider me a bit skeptical of that claim.
First thought: When shielding is criminal, only criminals will have shielding.
Second thought: This would be a really cool way to deactivate police cars that might be chasing you.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Digital audio and video recording devices in the vehicle were also affected.
So, they can shut off your camera before they beat you half to death?
Don't trust any concentration of power.
There will be a lot of blowback from this device:
1: As mentioned above, if it fries pacemakers, insulin pumps, or heart plugs, how will wrongful death lawsuits be handled?
2: If used on a motorcycle, it can mean the rider can lose control, causing a crash, fatality, and lawsuits.
3: If used on a car, most cars are drive-by-wire. This means that brakes and steering will be made inoperable in some cars, causing an instant wreck... and subsequent lawsuits. Other cars will still have mechanical brakes and steering, but most people are used to power-assisted brakes and steering... and having their vehicle handle way differently can also cause a wreck... and lawsuit.
4: What happens if another car is hit? Radio waves can be directed in unexpected places. Yet another wreck possiblity and lawsuit.
5: Of course, the bad guys will have this technology sooner or later. Now, watch stretches of I-10 become nice kill zones for thieves who are desiring either pickup trucks for Mexican drug runs, or just to pop caps in people once their car is stopped to get soldier status in their gang.
Bad idea all around... well all but for the attorneys who will make a mint from this.
You realize that the only reliable way to generate an EMP is with a nuclear weapon right?
Always with the negativity!
I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
Option 2 stop chasing them? The FBI's research pretty much shows that they are simply dangerous http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/march-2010/evidence-based-decisions-on-police-pursuits they show that most chases are for minor offences and that the suspects will quickly return to safe driving after the chase is stopped. Pretty much car chases are cops getting an adrenaline rush at the expense of the public.
No sir I dont like it.
You realize that the only reliable way to generate an EMP is with a nuclear weapon right?
You watch too many movies.
A person can back-load an old portable generator into a transformer and create an EMP that will theoretically immobilize all electronics within a 3-block radius.
For more directed attacks, you can find plans for HERF (High Energy, Radio Frequency) guns all over the internet, and build one out of a microwave oven.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
5: Of course, the bad guys will have this technology sooner or later. Now, watch stretches of I-10 become nice kill zones for thieves who are desiring either pickup trucks for Mexican drug runs, or just to pop caps in people once their car is stopped to get soldier status in their gang.
I was thinking this too. Also, I shudder at the thought of some, say, 14 year old kids getting their hands on a cheap device that can do this and thinking it's "fun" to stop random cars while hiding behind a bush with no thought given to the consequences. I've read about kids throwing heavy and dangerous objects from heights onto unsuspecting people/cars below them. I'm sure this will appeal to the same people.
You're creating a whole bunch of induced current in the circuits, there is a definite possibility that something is not going to work right after being hit by it.
I read the internet for the articles.
So the RF interference takes out the CAN bus, which runs communications between the various control units in the vehicle. This is a common problem in electrical vehicles, where the high power/current lines must be routed separately from the CAN bus wires.
There are two problems with this solution
1. Older vehicles are unaffected
Old cars, especially those with carburetors, are unaffected since they don't have any data buses that can pickup the interference.
2. The CAN bus carries safety critical information.
Corrupted data packets, such as by-wire throttle position information, can cause brake failures and/or uncontrolled acceleration when the ECU/TCU bombs out due to noise on the bus. Airbags may also deploy, although that is a bit more far-fetched.
I'm sure the "disruption, not damage" thing is going to be very reassuring to the guy with a pacemaker.
More generally, it's going to be very hard to calibrate field strength for this kind of thing to shut down car electronics without damaging any electronics: it works by turning wires into antennas and inducing enough voltage to confuse the device on one end of that wire. Due to the range of normal operating voltages in different devices -- or even different circuits within one device -- one voltage level might be too low to confuse some devices but high enough to damage others.
According to this BI article: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-high-tech-gps-tracker-that-is-a-game-changer-for-police-2013-11
"High-speed pursuits cause nearly 400 deaths a year and cost the government more than a billion dollars a year in damages, lawsuits, and medical bills."
"... Fischbach says that in most pursuits a minimum of $3,000 in property damage occurs."
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
won't work if you drive a plastic car ['Vette, Saturn] but with metal bodywork your average care is already half way to being a Faraday cage. A concealed job of finishing that cage would be difficult but most openings just need a grounded hardware cloth covering of proper mesh [must study TFA to see what frequency is used].
Active jamming to cancel out the incoming waves is not likely due to the high frequency they probably use.
BTW, do they test this thing on Dick Cheney to see if it shuts down pacemakers?
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
those high-powered NSA satellites can do this from orbit.
. Five words: wavelength. Antenna size. Beam width.
Ezekiel 23:20
The issue is that many people who run from the police when chased for a minor traffic violation are not running to avoid the the ticket. They are usually running because they are wanted on another, much more serious, charge. By not chasing we would let serious criminals get away. For example ,serial murderer Ted Bundy who killed over 22 women, and the Atlanta child killer, Wayne Williams, who killed 28, were apprehended because of traffic stops.
As another poster pointed out, a publicized no chase policy will just encourage people to run. It does not take long for an accident to happen. For example, a famous computer programmer was struck killed by a fleeing motorist within 2km of the start of the chase.
I'm sure the "disruption, not damage" thing is going to be very reassuring to the guy with a pacemaker.
The military has actually looked into the effects of EMP on pacemakers. The conclusion is that there is minimal, if any, risk.
"2: If used on a motorcycle, it can mean the rider can lose control, causing a crash, fatality, and lawsuits."
MC mechanic of many years here.
Not especially likely. MCs aren't drive-by-wire other than EFI and engine shutdown takes out no control systems. Manual steering and brake make for simple stopping when your engine quits.
"3: If used on a car, most cars are drive-by-wire."
No, they are not. Most have power-assisted but mechanically linked steering and brakes. If you are trying to stop someone in a high-speed chase shutting them down is far safer than chasing them until they crash.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
This kind of thing would be ripe for abuse, but how many times have we heard/read about police chases which result in massive collateral damage and people getting killed?
I'm torn, but this seems like a really good thing for police to have. Especially if it can be directed so that it only affects the target.
People said the same thing about Tasers.
He's not talking about weight watchers.
...
Ohh. Wait, nevermind.
sig: sauer
The car is already a pretty good Faraday Cage, being mostly metal.
The fact that this took so long to arrive in a viable product (it it is in fact viable) suggest how difficult the task of shutting down a car is. Presumably it is getting easier, because cars are no so much more dependent on computers.
The problem I see is that unless this device can be triggered precisely upon arrival of the target vehicle, you would end up clogging a freeway with 40 stalled vehicles just as your getaway car arrives. So you dump your desperate criminal in a bunch of helpless and confused hostages. If you could aim it, and and make it safe enough to carry on a helicopter you might have a useful product.
As described it sounds simply like another over-reaction tool for police.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
A simple Google search for "non-nuclear EMP"...
and as an added bonus probably gets you added to several lists maintained by govt agencies, such as the no-fly list
I want to mod you funny for this. But somehow it's not really funny anymore.