3 ms·

Hopefully not bothering anyone with my wild speculation and incomplete physics knowledge here... Could it be there is some way to target a location with multip

Hopefully not bothering anyone with my wild speculation and incomplete physics knowledge here... Could it be there is some way to target a location with multiple radio beams such that the damaging effect occurs at the point of interference? Maybe just constructive interference from multiple weaker beams? Something like this would need to be aimed precisely of course. I was further led to thinking about the way you can generate sound at a distance from beams of ultrasound. [0] Either the fluid within the beam or an object struck by the beam acts as a demodulator. I don't really know if something like this could apply with radio. The other thing that I thought of was the way microwave ovens excite water molecules specifically. Maybe there is some other wavelength or combination of them which excites other specific molecules or structures present in the brain? [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_from_ultrasound https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_from_ultrasound

akiselev 6y ago
> Could it be there is some way to target a location with multiple radio beams such that the damaging effect occurs at the point of interference? Maybe just constructive interference from multiple weaker beams? Something like this would need to be aimed precisely of course. Yes, a phased array [1], which is likely what the GGP was referring to by "What is unproven though, is how one would ever shrink the size of an electronic weapon like this." Advanced radars work by creating a concentrated beam of RF with constructive interference and scanning it across the sky, but the installations are huge. A smaller directed microwave weapon would be meters across, hard to hide, and noisy. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phased_array https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phased_array
- na85 6y ago
  I have dinner plates that are larger than the phased array under the nose cone/radome of the C-130 Hercules or the 737. Phased arrays can be very small.
  - akiselev 6y ago
    Source? I don't know of any plane that have a proper phased array - the only one I know of is the Airborne Phased Array Radar and that's still a WIP. Note that just putting a couple of antennas close to each other to improve angular resolution on the radar isn't really a phased array in the sense that we're talking about.
    - na85 6y ago
      Hundreds of aircraft have phased arrays onboard. See this wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_electronically_scanned_array https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_electronically_scanne... Specifically, I believe the one on the 737 is the Rockwell Collins WXR-2100.

akiselev 6y ago

> Could it be there is some way to target a location with multiple radio beams such that the damaging effect occurs at the point of interference? Maybe just constructive interference from multiple weaker beams? Something like this would need to be aimed precisely of course. Yes, a phased array [1], which is likely what the GGP was referring to by "What is unproven though, is how one would ever shrink the size of an electronic weapon like this." Advanced radars work by creating a concentrated beam of RF with constructive interference and scanning it across the sky, but the installations are huge. A smaller directed microwave weapon would be meters across, hard to hide, and noisy. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phased_array https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phased_array

na85 6y ago
I have dinner plates that are larger than the phased array under the nose cone/radome of the C-130 Hercules or the 737. Phased arrays can be very small.
- akiselev 6y ago
  Source? I don't know of any plane that have a proper phased array - the only one I know of is the Airborne Phased Array Radar and that's still a WIP. Note that just putting a couple of antennas close to each other to improve angular resolution on the radar isn't really a phased array in the sense that we're talking about.
  - na85 6y ago
    Hundreds of aircraft have phased arrays onboard. See this wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_electronically_scanned_array https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_electronically_scanne... Specifically, I believe the one on the 737 is the Rockwell Collins WXR-2100.