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from the not-just-for-stopping-speeders-anymore dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
To increase public security, the EU SAVELEC project has demonstrated a prototype device that can stop non-cooperative vehicles, both safely and at distance.
In its endeavour to keep the public safe, one of the key challenges facing European security services is the ability to control and stop, at distance, non-cooperative vehicles posing a threat. However, this ability presents more than a technical challenge. To comply with EU legislation, as well as adhere to ethical concerns, the technology would also have to be safe for the user, the driver (and passengers), as well as members of the public and the material infrastructure of the surrounding environment.
The SAVELEC (Safe control of non cooperative vehicles through electromagnetic means) project developed a prototype device, after testing signals (magnetic pulses and microwave), which interfered with key car components, forcing it to slow down and stop. With the contribution of security forces as the ultimate end users, the researchers were able to simulate the technology's use in realistic scenarios.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2016, @04:00PM
Diesel (compression ignition) engines don't have electric/electronic ignition and should be immune to magnetic pulses and/or microwave radiation.
Now, if the radiation is meant to take out the driver, that is a different thing...
(Score: 1) by pinchy on Sunday July 31 2016, @04:30PM
I imagine you would be hard pressed to find one with mechanical fuel injection
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SparkyGSX on Sunday July 31 2016, @04:35PM
That would be true of the old, mechanically injected diesel engines. I was once driving an old diesel van when the alternator failed; the radio stopped working, the lights dimmed, but the engine just kept running. Pretty much any diesel car made in the last 15 to 20 years will have an electronic injection system, and will stop running if the ECU is sufficiently "confused".
This probably isn't meant to stop anyone who is prepared, as choosing the right vehicle and/or improving the EMI (electromagnetic immunity) will limit the effectiveness.
Also, it would seem pretty difficult to focus the effect; this toy will probably disable a lot of other cars in the vicinity, including, most of all, the police it was being deployed from, since it will receive by far the largest electromagnetic field density.
What about people with pacemakers?
If you do what you did, you'll get what you got
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2016, @05:18PM
What about people with pacemakers?
Let them get their own electromagnetic death rays.
(Score: 1) by Type44Q on Sunday July 31 2016, @07:05PM
and should be immune to magnetic pulses and/or microwave radiation
I take it you haven't looked at a diesel engine made in the last twenty years...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2016, @07:51PM
wont work well on carburetors either.