[NetBehaviour] US military ‘rocks’ spy world
marc
marc.garrett at furtherfield.org
Sun May 29 14:03:53 CEST 2005
*US military ‘rocks’ spy world*
By Jeremy Grant in Chicago
The US military is developing miniature electronic sensors disguised as
rocks that can be dropped from an aircraft and used to help detect the
sound of approaching enemy combatants.
The devices, which would be no larger than a golf ball, could be ready
for use in about 18 months. They use tiny silicon chips and radio
frequency identification (RFID) technology that is so sensitive that it
can detect the sound of a human footfall at 20ft to 30ft. The project is
being carried out by scientists at North Dakota State University, which
has licensed nano-technology processes from Alien Technology, a
California-based commercial manufacturer of RFID tags for supermarkets.
It is an example of the increasing desire for the US military to
co-operate with civilian industry and academic institutions in the
development of battlefield technology that will reduce the risks to
soldiers' lives. Greg McCarthy, associate vice president at the
university's Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, said: "The
military wants better sensing capability. People are being killed
because someone's sneaking up on a tent and blowing them up."
“We've got some very realistic looking artificial rocks and stuck
sensors in them,” he said. The military is already working with Detroit
carmakers on the development of counter-terrorism and kidnap rescue
vehicles. The new sensors would be made cheaply enough to be left on the
ground without need for retrieval by soldiers. RFID technology uses
radio signals that are sent from a silicon chip to a remote sensing device.
more...
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/35bae060-ce20-11d9-9a8a-00000e2511c8.html
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