Taperssection.com

Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: gmm6797 on March 10, 2008, 09:10:53 PM

Title: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: gmm6797 on March 10, 2008, 09:10:53 PM
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,336287,00.html

LONDON —  A camera that can see through people's clothing at distances of up to 80 feet has been developed to help detect weapons, drugs and explosives.

The camera could be deployed in railway stations, shopping centers and other public spaces.

Although it can see objects under clothes, its designers say the images do not show anatomical details. However, it is likely to increase fears that Britain has become a surveillance society.

The new technology, known as the T5000 system, has attracted interest from police forces, train companies and airport operators as well as government agencies.

It has been developed by ThruVision, an Oxfordshire-based company spun out from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, one of the British government's leading physics research centers.

It was designed for use in spacecraft and astronomy but researchers soon realized that cameras capable of seeing through clouds of cosmic dust could also see through clothing.

This week the camera will be displayed at the Home Office scientific development branch's annual exhibition, Britain's premier showcase for security equipment, to be held on an RAF airbase in Buckinghamshire.

ThruVision already offers a smaller system designed for office foyers that can scan through clothing at a range of 30 to 40 feet.

This has been used at the Canary Wharf complex in east London, which is home to several global banks and is regarded as a target for terrorists. The Dubai Mercantile Exchange has a similar installation.

The system can be linked to a computer so that it can automatically scan anyone passing and alert its human operator to anything suspicious.

Clive Beattie, ThruVision's chief executive, said: "Acts of terrorism have shaken the world in recent years and security precautions have been tightened globally. The T5000 dramatically extends the range over which we can scan people."

Bill Foster, the president of Thermal Matrix, an American defense contractor specializing in imaging systems for the U.S. military, is one customer. He said: "This could be deployed at major sporting events, concerts and rail stations as well as for military use."

The technology works by detecting and measuring terahertz waves, or T-waves for short. These are a form of electromagnetic radiation, emitted by all people and objects that lie between the infrared and microwave parts of the spectrum.

The waves from any given material also carry a distinctive signature, offering the potential to distinguish Semtex plastic explosive from modeling clay and cocaine from sugar.
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: JoeKiller on March 11, 2008, 12:24:40 AM
they'll need xray to see my mics.


er uh.. damn that post just went bad.
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: gmm6797 on March 11, 2008, 12:45:41 AM
thats what she said
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: Liquid Drum on March 11, 2008, 05:44:01 AM
Damn. Kinda worrying. I guess it only picks up metal stuff?
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: Nate on March 11, 2008, 07:22:24 AM
I think Schoeps is developing a new nextel gray composite mic body and cap. ;D
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: Belexes on March 11, 2008, 08:13:56 AM
I can already see the ACLU filing a lawsuit on this one.
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: cleantone on March 11, 2008, 11:57:11 AM
I heard about this as much as 6 months ago or so. I think I saw a demo on TV. This might fly in some places. Not likely in USA. You can literally see penis and boobs. It's like a realization of those comic book XRAY Specs from the 60's.
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: BC on March 11, 2008, 12:07:50 PM
Damn. Kinda worrying. I guess it only picks up metal stuff?


sounds like it picks up anything, not just metal.
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: OFOTD on March 11, 2008, 12:46:28 PM
Reminds me of the scene in the Running Man where Ben Richards is walking through the airport and goes through a scanner than show the gun he's packing.

Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: willndmb on March 11, 2008, 01:09:19 PM
they'll need xray to see my mics.


er uh.. damn that post just went bad.
+T lol

and yes this has been around for a little bit,i saw this on tv as well
i think it was on something like future weapons where they can see any object (metal or not) under your clothes but not a true xray where they can see into your body
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: Belexes on March 11, 2008, 01:25:35 PM
It's like a realization of those comic book XRAY Specs from the 60's.

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51G2JJM3ZZL._AA280_.jpg)

Now if we could just get real Sea Monkeys.
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: gmm6797 on March 11, 2008, 03:10:16 PM
Now if we could just get real Sea Monkeys.

I want a yard full of chia-pet grass
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: su6oxone on March 11, 2008, 07:02:51 PM
Reminds me of the scene in the Running Man where Ben Richards is walking through the airport and goes through a scanner than show the gun he's packing.



Interesting, there's a nearly identical scene in Total Recall also. 
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: T-90 on March 11, 2008, 07:44:36 PM
the T5000 sure sounds nice.... :P
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: GrandMasterMark on March 11, 2008, 11:06:40 PM
Yes, let's all get a T5000. Much better than taping!  >:D
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: boyacrobat on March 12, 2008, 12:51:57 AM
big deal
where there is a will there is a way.

g


Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: sunjan on March 12, 2008, 06:22:43 AM
"This could be deployed at major sporting events, concerts and rail stations as well as for military use."

A similar device has been up for a year at the Phoenix airport:
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/related/170728

OK, it might stop tapers with huge gear bags, but nobody would would be stupid enough to bring a full open rig in a stealth situation anyway.

These days with the abundance of mobile phones, pocket cameras, PDAs, you'd get so many false positives at a concert it would be too time consuming to check.
Anyone carrying an R09, LS-10, H1xx, PMD620, H2 would easily be waved through.

And for smaller venues, the cost of $100,000 for this scanner is prohibitive, so they won't be deployed anyway!
Title: Re: taper's worst nightmare
Post by: chucky on March 12, 2008, 11:12:01 AM
That's prolly why I found (what seemed like) a bag of weed hiding behind a rock while I was outside smoking a ciggie at the Pheonix airport :). I kept checking it out but I was affraid to touch it because I was scared it was a setup, or some big guy would come out of nowhere and say:

You smokin' my shit?


Whatever the case this "thing" is sketch.