Comments on: Microwave Ray Gun Turns Off Car Engines From a Distance

By: Sid Morrison

Sid Morrison — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 21:34:11 +0000

@jan-
PetShark is right, but to elaborate a little… I think you are either more familiar with diesel engines (which indeed don’t use sparkplugs!), or are mixing up the car’s starter (powerful little electric motor that spins the engine over while you “crank” it) with ignition system (fires spark plugs to light the gasoline-air mixture.

By: PetShark

PetShark — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:19:45 +0000

Because the ignition system keeps the spark plugs sparkin’.

By: jan

jan — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:02:22 +0000

If the car is already running why do you need an ignition system? Just asking..

By: Sid Morrison

Sid Morrison — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:58:15 +0000

@ Vonskippy-
Yes, as long as the crooks are driving a non-computer controlled car, the device should be ineffective. But isn’t just the fuel system that will need to be old-tech — you’ll need a non-electronic ignition system, which takes you back a long ways. Your Phd ass may recall that fuel, air, AND SPARK are needed for combustion. Anyone watching helicopter chase scenes will observe that ‘69 Chargers don’t pop up all that often.

By: Vonskippy

Vonskippy — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:01:08 +0000

@Sid Morrison

Luckily, my ass has a PhD, so I’ll stick to my first post.

But even Gomer could figure this one out. For your criminal type activity - or just for those days when you want to have some fun out running Boss Hog - use a car with a carburetor instead of FI’s (and maybe that trunk mounted SAM).

By: Sid Morrison

Sid Morrison — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:51:39 +0000

You guys with the Faraday cage idea are talking out your asses. Yes, you can put a tin foil hat around the vehicle’s ECM (engine control module) itself, but there are dozens (often well over 100 nowadays) wires going into and out of that ECM from all over the car. Add to it the other 3, 5, or 10 control modules on the vehicle all linked through a CAN bus and it will be pretty difficult to make your vehicle immune. The pulse only needs to be strong enough to burp the controller a little — the engine won’t run on its own like cars of old or your weedwacker. Haven’t you ever had your PC reset on a slight power droop or surge?

By: Tom B

Tom B — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 04:01:19 +0000

Yea, and, like , you have a pacemaker. Or a digital camera that might get fried? This is one of those things tht might sound OK on paper, but is phenomenally stupid in real life, like the Taser.

By: notjohndoe2

notjohndoe2 — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:54:59 +0000

ugh
thats just scary
im not sure why but this disturbed me

By: Jonn

Jonn — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:07:33 +0000

Yeah, even with a 1ms pulse time, a microwave pulse strong enough to disable a car’s engine from appreciable distances will harm people. Even if the rays only penetrate the skin, in 10 years, that’s skin cancer.

By: k

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:22:36 +0000

say no to cannibalism

By: priscilla

priscilla — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:34:53 +0000

Not cool.

By: DCer

DCer — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:11:28 +0000

while the faraday cage idea is true, quite often people are fleeing in car-jacked cars with seconds to spare.

By: Vonskippy

Vonskippy — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:53:12 +0000

Wow, you’d have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to put a $3 Faraday cage over your car’s electronic to be able to stop that.

By: Sid Morrison

Sid Morrison — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:37:27 +0000

I think the pulse duration is VERY short — like maybe milliseconds, so the risk to people is pretty low.

It’s a good idea that’s been ripe for development for a long time. Yeah, there is the potential for some mayhem if (when) the devices fall into the wrong hands. Not developing it will just mean somebody else does, though… Think of the pfun hackerz will have when somebody cooks up a homebrew version!

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:24:51 +0000

I wouldnt want to be in the helicopter when there is a backfire.

By: Lasse

Lasse — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:17:52 +0000

Another great weapon for terrorists. Now they don’t even need explosives.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:29:37 +0000

Is it safe to shoot microwave radiation at people? Especially for the through-the-wall thing, which will be used indescriminantly of crime.