Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Active Denial System Has Researchers Worried
The 'Sheriff' Active Denial System (ADS), due to be implemented in Iraq by 2006, has some scientists and researchers expressing concerns. ADS is a non-lethal, counter-personnel directed energy weapon; it projects a focused beam of millimeter-sized waves to induce an intolerable heating sensation on the skin of adversaries.
(From Humvee-Mounted Demonstration ADS)
"What happens if someone in a crowd is unable for whatever reason to move away from the beam?" asked Neil Davison, coordinator of the nonlethal weapons research project at Britain's Bradford University."How do you ensure that the dose doesn't cross the threshold for permanent damage? Does the weapon cut out to prevent overexposure?"
(Riot control ray gun)
According to a paper provided by the government, great care has been taken to make sure that Active Denial Technology system does not harm human beings:
A large portion of the investment, about $9 million, has been devoted to characterizing the effects of this technology on the human body. This is to ensure the effects of millimeter waves are well understood, and that a wide safety margin exists between levels that provide operationally useful effects and those that may cause injury. Animals and humans have been used in the extensive test program, which has been conducted in strict compliance with the procedures, laws and regulations governing animal and human research. The tests have been reviewed and approved by a formal Institutional Review Board with oversight from the Air Force Surgeon General’s Office. An independent panel of nongovernmental medical experts also periodically reviewed and advised on the planning aspects and results of the research and test activities.
(Active Denial System)
In tests carried out on Wednesday at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, participants were asked to remove their glasses and contact lenses to protect their eyes. In other tests, participants were asked to remove metal objects like coins from their clothing.
Science fiction fans have been concerned about energy weapons since H.G. Wells originated the idea of a heat ray in War of the Worlds.
The Active Denial System has been in development for almost fifteen years; early development was done by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the DoD Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate.
Read more about Active Denial Technology: Directed Energy Weapons and Riot control ray gun.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/21/2005)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 18 )
Related News Stories - (" Weapon ")
Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.' - Maureen F. McHugh, 1994.
Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.' - Philip K. Dick, 1965.
Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones
'It hurtled on down with inconceivable speed until it was visible as thousands of tiny robot planes...' - Hal K. Wells, 1942.
China's Handheld Electromagnetic Gun
'Completely silent, accurate up to about twenty meters. No recoil...' - Richard Morgan, 2003.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
ICE Buys Shock Gloves Like Batman's
What else is the Caped Crusader using?
Factories In The Sky Will Surpass Those Of Earth
'The thirty-odd miles of The Factory’s circumference...'
Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit?
'He looked a good bit like an elderly, fat beetle.'
Light Society: Simulates Earth-Scale Society With A Billion AI Agents
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
Satyress Centaur Robot Horror Reminds Everyone Of Something
'Fess was very dutiful'
When Colds Threaten You Can't Do This - Or Can You?
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
