Und vonce we haff disarmed die volk, we can cross this line HERE! JK. (courtesy cleantechnotes.org)

Class, say hello to MIRANDA. MIRANDA stands for Millimetre Wave Radar using Analogue and New Digital Approach. Here’s a nice man from defenceiq.com to explain who MIRANDA is and what she can do to keep us all safe from terrorists, criminals, gun owners and sovereign citizens. “One main feature is the selection of the transmitted frequency, as millimetre wave and lower Terahertz radiation may penetrate clothing. In addition, systems at higher frequencies need smaller antennas for the same image resolution. The third aspect comprises the fact that the range resolution of a radar sensor is directly connected to its bandwidth.” Yes, well, let’s try that again . . .

This means that with the MIRANDA 300 system having a bandwidth of 40 GHz, it can provide a range resolution of 3.75 mm, independent of the range of the observed object. Using this, detailed images of people and objects are feasible at large distances of more than a hundred metres.

The lower terahertz regime shows many advantages. On the one hand, electromagnetic waves of 1 mm wavelength can easily penetrate clothes, shirts, and other materials. On the other hand, explosives do not show total transparency, so they can be distinguished underneath garment.

Furthermore, because of the high range resolution, objects carried by a person cannot only be detected but also be identified, thereby offering a wide range of possibilities for the security sector, most obviously for weapon detection in public areas.

Everybody get that? No Johnny, they won’t need metal detectors with MIRANDA. Or, these days, a search warrant. What’s your big brother got to do with this? Oh, that Big Brother. Anyone else have a question?

No Jose, the technology is not American. It was developed by the Fraunhofer Society, “Europe’s largest application-oriented research organisation and is comprised of sixty institutes across Germany.” Yes we won that war. But they’re our allies now.

In fact they’re developing a big gun to shoot at asteroids and save the earth. No you can’t have one. Yes Alice, MIRANDA would be able to see if Max had one—especially in California. Right? Who wants to play non-invasive tag?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

98 COMMENTS

  1. Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there who believe that a non-physical, non-invasive, warrantless search doesn’t constitute a SEARCH (I.E. a 4’th Amendment violation).

    • I’m sorry, but flooding you with high-power microwaves is VERY invasive, and probably quite harmful! – remember when <*GASP*> MICROWAVE OVENS were going to cook your eyeballs?

  2. In other news, cancer rates in cities/locations that use these devices has inexplicably skyrocketed after their installation.

    • Actually, that technology should not increase cancer rates. Our wonderful sun bathes us in such frequencies every day — and at much higher energy levels.

      • I hate being the pedant all the time, but those frequencies/wavelengths are blocked very nicely by the atmosphere, thank you very much. That’s why it only has a range of 100 yards.

        There’s a transmission window that starts in the far infrared and extends to the near UV – that’s how we evolved to see the colors we do.
        http://www.neodc.rl.ac.uk/tutorials/basics/5.htm

        • Bingo, Rich. You are correct. We have an Ozone layer and an magnetic field around the planet, which protect us from these parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

          Sadly the aforementioned magnetic field has been in great decline for the past 30-40 years. No one knows where this might be leading us, but there’s not a known positive outcome of it.

          • Well, here I go debunking again. The Ozone layer doesn’t stop much of anything that the air doesn’t stop; in fact, the ozone itself is the result of the absorption of a UV photon by an O2 molecule, which dissociates it into two bare O atoms, which grab onto whatever they can get their little valence holes on, which is usually another O2 molecule. Voila! Ozone!

            And plain magnetic fields have no effect on light or radio waves – they draw the charged particles in the solar wind toward the poles, which makes the auroras.

            Sometimes I think the people in authority got their science education from Saturday matinee “B” sci-fi movies.

              • Oh, I’ve never made any bones about being crazy. I might very well be the craziest of the lot! But you see, I know I’m crazy. But that’s really neither here nor there. I just wonder, what is it about my description of ozone, in response to a post about ozone, that suggests to you that I’m “plain, goddamned schizophrenc?” I’m usually aware of it when I let my schizophrenic homunculus out to play.

      • That is an excellent question. Those frequencies are even less likely to penetrate the human body than microwaves. Intuitively I do not think they will affect pacemakers at “reasonable” (whatever that means) transmit power levels.

  5. Oh goodie! Another way for TSA to wig out because I’ve got several pounds of titanium just under the skin of my left leg and knee. I love the sound of panic in the morning!

  6. Oh, and I hate it when acronyms take multiple letters from some words. Using their actual title it should be MWRUAANDA…

    If they really want it to be “MIRANDA”, I suggest the following, more appropriate title:
    May I Receive Another Nasty Digital Assraping

    • So now they can MIRANDA us without a Miranda warning? Welcome to “1984”, peasants. Orwell was just a little early in his prediction.

    • I scratched my head over that, too. “It means someone really wanted our initials to spell out SHIELD”

      How about “Government-Actuated Noninvasive Gigawatt RADAR Analog Probe and Enforcement?”

  7. Does this mean I have to line my laptop case with tinfoil so they can’t recognize the KelTec Su2000 9mm tucked therein? Or will I have to go to copper or stainless steel mesh?

    • IdahoPete,

      Actually, yes, that would make your notebook computer case opaque. That means “they” (whoever “they” are) would not be able to see the contents of your notebook computer case.

      The interesting question is mesh versus foil. It all depends on the wavelength of their scanners. The smaller the wavelength, the smaller the mesh openings must be to block scanning. If their scanners use 1mm wavelength, then you would need maximum openings on the order of 1/4 mm or smaller … in other words foil. But the foil could be just about any metal: copper, aluminum, and even tin or stainless steel would work well. I would personally use thin (0.020 inch thick) aluminum or tin sheet. They are both strong, durable, oxidation resistant, and inexpensive.

      • Okaaay… but now you’re a guy walking up to the supposedly secure area with a big opaque case full of something. Net result is you get stopped/detained/searched either way.

        • What about getting a thicker case and making a false floor in it? WWhich you would line with foil too. They open the case see its empty nad go on with their day. (in theory)

        • Well I doubt IdahoPete was considering trying to bring his firearm into a secure area. Rather, I think IdahoPete wants to ensure that Big Brother cannot scan and detect the contents of his notebook computer case when he is simply walking in a general public location.

          And yes, he could use a thick case with a shielded internal compartment which has an absorbing outer material. Then you would have to have a “visible” compartment with “normal” objects.

          Keep in mind it would still raise suspicion if the had an obviously opaque/shielded case.

        • The entire point of these is to be invasive while people are out in public. Do you not think they’d have a security team approach and initiate contact with a “suspicious” package in the specific area (as broad as it is) that they are actually scanning? Otherwise, why aim the radar there? Remember… See something, Say something…

          If they were only concerned with those making entry into an individual secure area, that’s what metal detectors are for, scanning only those who seek to enter the secure space and no others.

        • Conductive threads in your clothing to assist with personal security from unscrupulous individuals who use the same technology for personal titillation. A sufficiently small mesh of conductive threads in the textile that your pants/shirt are made from and you’ve got clothing that is opaque to this scanner.

        • The question then becomes: If they simply cannot see what’s in the case because it is an unidentifiable blob does that give them probable cause for a more thorough search or sufficient probable cause to detain you and obtain a search warrant? Seems to me that the whole point of this device is to see through things that now obscure the things they are looking for, same as if they were looking through a window now. If it reveals a crime they do not need a warrant. But if you put windows, or even aluminum foil, over your windows so they cannot see in they still need probable cause before they can obtain a warrant. JMO.

      • There is much in the way of metal mesh fabric out there. there is an entire population of people who love to wear their tinfoil hats to prevent the aliens from scanning their brainwaves. These people are our friends now.. the LessEMF dot com folks seem to have numbers of fabrics that could easily line your jackets(and still be quite breathable)..

      • I think you may have other trouble if you are depending on the Kel-Tec to defend yourself, besides the unwanted dose of radiation. Like the damn thing falling apart on you.

        • Well, I’ve run about 1500 rounds through it so far with no problems – so far so good.

          And I just had a better idea on carrying it. Put it in one of those cool, high-tech looking metal-sided briefcases. Hiding in plain sight.

      • Yeah, I lucked out on one back in 2005, at Red’s Trading Post in Twin Falls, ID. Already had a Glock 17, and there it was in the sales case: fate!

    • At those frequencies, it’d need to be a very fine mesh — akin to the screen in a faucet aerator.

      Such a mesh, in a closed “Faraday Cage” configuration, would achieve near-invisibility.

      Note that I did not say opacity, but invisibility. RADAR depends on reflected radiation and your cage would absorb it, converting it to a temperature rise of a few thousandths of a degree.

      Now, they’ll likely stop and frisk any motile black holes who come along, but that’s another pot entirely.

      • Mr. Bixby,

        You are mistaken. Radar will reflect off of mesh just as well as foil or sheet metal if the mesh is fine enough. Some satellite television dishes use a fine mesh with fiberglass over them. Older satellite television dishes (the big 6 foot or 9 foot diameter dishes) were simply a metallic grid on steel ribs.

        Radar is simply radio (electromagnetic) waves at several hundred Megahertz and/or into the Gigahertz range. All radio waves will reflect off of a conductive surface with almost no absorption. That is why the manufacturers of stealth craft coat their outer metallic surfaces with electromagnetic energy absorbing materials.

        A Faraday cage protects you because it reflects (re-radiates) incident electromagnetic energy. In case of a lightning strike, a Faraday cage protects you because it enables the strike to flow around you and keep going.

        • Yes and no. Too fine and yes, it reflects. Too coarse and no shielding. Just under one quarter wavelength, however…

          A big part of stealth is no right angles, already a given with clothing. The rest is absorption.

          I quoted Faraday cage because in this case it’s just a mechanical description — no gaps, in other words. The idea here is absorption, rather than to provide a uniform field density within the mesh-enclosed cavity.

  12. Why did they use a female model thawed out from 1964.

    What was the ruling if any on the thermo images taken from afar to nab the pot grow houses?

    • There’s a link to that decision a few posts above.

      My take on it: SCOTUS said (5-4 decision) tough s**t government. If it’s technology that isn’t commonly used by private citizens that can “read into” environmental or other conditions within a 4th Amendment protected area (that are not otherwise outwardly observable), it constitutes a search.

  14. How long will it take for companies like Escort, Valentine, Beldin, and others to come up with radar detectors, or jammers, for that frequency?

  15. Oh, this is going to be fun, fun, fun.

    Let’s see. I can slip cut-out profiles of guns from common household aluminum foil, put them in a card, an envelope, etc or even between two thin sheets of paper, hand it to some scum-sucking political hack and walk away.

    A few minutes later, he’s asked about the gun he’s carrying.

    The way to defeat these systems is to overwhelm them with false positives. This is another case of supposedly ‘smart’ people who have no idea how the real world works. I could be even more devious and start a line of clothing that has gun signatures in between layers of fabric. Sell them successfully enough and suddenly, these clowns see a street positively full of guns where there are none.

    • Absolutely fabulous DG! This is exactly how to defeat them. I would add one thing, sue every single time they search because of one of these false positives. Eventually, even if the suits lack merit, the overload will force them to abandon the practice.

  16. When will the posters of Big Brother be put up?

    We’re not at war with Eastasia. We’ve never been at war with Eastasia.

    • What’s scary too is that the government and similar minded people keep giving the conspiracy theorist plenty of opportunities to say “I told you so”. Whether it be listening devices like laser microphones, drones, wireless & batteryless hidden microphones, satellite photos in hi-res, now this. We live in a world where Alex Jones is a prophet instead of paranoid. Truly disheartening.

      • At this point I only communicate important things via notes that are passed folded and face down, in person, under ground in a copper cage with each note being eaten after it is read.

        Good god when will enough people tire of this madness to put an end to it?

        • Sadly, majority of the people are getting what they want with such infringements. Being a freedom loving person is a bit like being an unwilling participant at an S&M club. They won’t take their freaky deaky practice else where and don’t take no ans an answer.

          There are machines being developed to read minds. No I”m not joking. One set of them have a legit use, to help people who are severely handicapped use machines like prosthetic arms and operate computers. Others are being used to try to replace the absurdity that is the lie detector. So now I don’t try to care about privacy, I just think really really hard about phrases like “If you can read this you’re too close” and images of middle fingers.

    • “Is that a gun in you pocket or are you just happy to see me?” Nope just a baked potato… I’m seasoning a ny strip in my back left.

  21. These folks aren’t even trying to be subtle. They called their invasive search machine the MIRANDA machine, in honor of the seminal case against the right of an accuse to incriminate himself pursuant to the 4th amendment. These folks are pure sociopaths. It’s almost like they know something we don’t about our cherished RKBA. Outside of NYC, NJ, and CA, is there a place where this system wouldn’t infringe on the right of ordinary CCWs just going about their business? These folks sure are in a hurry for law enforcement agencies to lose their mandate from heaven.

    • Actually, NYPD tried to get some of these about a year ago. Then the whole mini-CIA and “stop and frosk” things blew up in their pocket and the ACLU went wild over everything. NYPD quietly dropped the solicitation. Sorry Bloomie…

  22. It is my understanding that the wavelengths discussed fall within a range which have been proven to cause adverse biological effects, including swelling of the retina, skin irritation, etc.

    It’s difficult to imagine this becoming an approved technology for general, indiscriminate use.

    • The government is the one that wants to use it…

      The government is the one that has to approve its use…

      Fox —> Henhouse

  24. In kyllo the thermal imaging was passive, picking up whatever heat was emitted from a home. This technology is more like shining a light into tinted windows, far more invasive and IMHO much more clearly a search.

  25. ***TINFOIL HAT WARNING***

    I remember reading a couple of years ago about a less than lethal weapon that effectively microwaved it’s target….

    Wikipedia: “The ADS works by firing a high-powered beam of 95 GHz extremely high frequency waves at a target, which corresponds to a wavelength of 3.2 mm.”

    So, states (California) and/or cities (Chicago) purchase a slew of these devices under the pretense of “common sense gun safety measures” and when things go wrong with their subjects, they crank up the dial on the frequency generator ever so slightly…….

  27. Under Terry V. Ohio, police must have a reasonable, articulable suspicion to stop-and-frisk. I would think courts would see use of this technology as a clear 4th Amendment violation if used on the street.

  28. Just wondering, could tanerite be adapted to react to microwave energy? Could be fun watching TSA change their underwear a lot! Hey, I have to get old, I DO NOT have to grow up!

    • It’ll reflect RADAR, however I’ve my doubts about your really wanting anything you’re wearing to “react.”

  29. I’m not worried about this… I carry a Glock 7. 100 percent porcelain, made in Austria. No metal detector or radar can detect it.

    The price (more than you make in a month) was well worth it!

    • How odd. RADAR can detect geese, clouds and people, but not your magic Glock?

      FYI, microwaves are low frequency light and bounce off more than just metal.

      Better think again.

  30. I’ll just have to make me a 1911 from a slab o’ meat.

    What the Hell? This p¡sses me enough that I’ll p¡ss back.

    Wanna get a gun onto a ‘plane? Tape it to your tummy and use a girdle to cover it with 3″ of meat — a 13 pound brisket in cryovac works nicely.

    This’ll defeat most metal detectors, and TSA will just think your a tidge tubby.

  31. Is the use of the term “MIRANDA” merely an unfortunate blind coincidence, or are they intentionally tweaking us on the nose with such a flagrant affront to our “Miranda Rights?”

    • As this and countless other things prove, we’re not paranoid if they’re really out to get us. And clearly, they are.

      “A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what’s going on. A psychotic is a guy who just found out what’s going on.”

      William S. Burroughs

  34. UGH! Still putting my comment to a comment as a comment to the blog post. WordPress issue or my issue with three different browsers (Opera 12.x, Firefox 23.x, and IE 9)?

    Now I don’t remember what I was going to reply to.

  35. So does this mean that whatever I have in my pants,they will be able to see? Well just hope it is a woman on the view screen!More intrusion into right of privacy,Must be part of NSA.Be prepared and ready.Keep your powder dry.

  36. This techgnology is not being developed at great expense just for a limited market like Ca. and NY. If the government is encouraging it’s developement they are planning on using it nation wide.

    Remember, at the time of the 68 gca there were few shall issue states in America. What we struggled to achieve can go away in an instant if we relax and don’t hang together.

  37. When selecting a top quality saw, there are number of factors
    to take note of. Presently there are just 10 testimonials from individuals that have actually bought
    this item on Amazon and you’re going to see that nine of these evaluations have offered this device with a
    5 out of 5 star rating. The best treatment for this is to cut
    one piece and make the rest keeping the very first
    one as endorsement.

  39. The things could feel like a slight trouble at first may turn into a significant condition if left behind uncorrected.
    They have some excellent tips on how in order to spare you cash.
    This can easily be actually performed by producing the exterior electrically conductive, giving a power path
    to dissipate the fairly low-current fixed fee.

Comments are closed.