Credit: Lincoln Lab, MIT
New 'see through walls' radar technology developed at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory has powerful urban combat implications.
ScienceDaily — The ability to see through walls is no longer the stuff of science fiction, thanks to new radar technology developed at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory.
Much as humans and other animals see via waves of visible light that bounce off objects and then strike our eyes' retinas, radar "sees" by sending out radio waves that bounce off targets and return to the radar's receivers. But just as light can't pass through solid objects in quantities large enough for the eye to detect, it's hard to build radar that can penetrate walls well enough to show what's happening behind. Now, Lincoln Lab researchers have built a system that can see through walls from some distance away, giving an instantaneous picture of the activity on the other side.
The researchers' device is an unassuming array of antenna arranged into two rows -- eight receiving elements on top, 13 transmitting ones below -- and some computing equipment, all mounted onto a movable cart. But it has powerful implications for military operations, especially "urban combat situations," says Gregory Charvat, technical staff at Lincoln Lab and the leader of the project. Keep on reading...
Oh, great, they're using the old 'urban combat situations' chestnut, as if this tech will be shipped over to the places they don't use indoor plumbing, and it will never see deployment in the States.
ReplyDeleteThe next thing we'll hear, or maybe not, is that the program was disappeared into the govt's maw, never to be spoken of again. Until, of course, a big national event, like the Olympics, or a presidential election.
By then, the gloves will be off, and it will be called an 'urban pacification' tool, for 'civic unrest'.
Quiet, everyone! Did you hear something outside the window of our hi-rise? No, of course not, 'cause Blue Thunder© approached the building in Whis-Pr Mode®, but it's there, nevertheless.