3 ms·

... terahertz waves, which are smaller and travel much faster than radio waves ... Hmmm

• nonrandomstring 3y ago
  Indeed, sloppy science journalism and the article seems repetitive. Anyway, supply chain anti-tamper is generally a good and useful thing. I think this is the higher-tech version of the vacuum packed bag of beans/rice idea. The issue not mentioned is one I've encountered in other similar projects which is false negatives cause by "creep" in plastics and general thermoplastic movement. We had a near-UV scanner that could map the surface of a test object (sensitive circuit boards) down to a few wavelengths, but it was too damn accurate. Go back and scan the same object a week later and stuff (like solder joints) has moved naturally. That doesn't work when things are in transit for weeks with vibrations and temperature variations.
  • mythhabit 3y ago
    Having too much resolution is a solvable problem. You can down sample it with software to get a fingerprint that does not change when the solder joints changing ever so slightly.
  • user_7832 3y ago
    > We had a near-UV scanner that could map the surface of a test object (sensitive circuit boards) down to a few wavelengths, but it was too damn accurate Could you give more info about this scanner? I would imagine it to be very helpful when prototyping a board, to test for eg thermal cycling effects on solder joints.