From: meo@pencom.com (Miles O'Neal)
Subject: MM Wave Imaging (FYI)
To: steve@media.mit.edu
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 16:20:40 -0500 (CDT)

Millitech Corp in South Deerfield, Taxachussetts has deveoped with financial assistance from the Justice Department's Concealed Weapon Detection Initiative a prototype version of a Millimeter Wave Camera to detect weapons and other contraband hidden under people's clothing.

Millimeter-wave radiation lies around 100 GHz.

The human body emits millimeter waves which facilitate the use of this energy for sensing images cloaked in fog, darkness, poor weather and even clothing.

This article goes on to explain some of the uses for MM waves.

For contraband detection, the mmw camera relies on the convergence of 3 key factors, according to congressional testimony by the mmw camera inventor Richard Hauguenin: adequate resolution in a reasonable sensor size; the high transparancy of virtually all clothing to mm waves; the extraordinarily high emissivity of human flesh compared to the vast majority of other materials.

Passive mmw imagers do not expose the subject to any manmade electromagnetic fields or radiation from the imaging system and do not pose any health risks to the person being observed, he told congress.

Although passive mmw imagers do see thru clothing, they do not reveal any intimate anatomical details and so preserve the observed individuals right to privacy.

The DoJ is particularily interested in remote frisking of individuals. Haugenin gives the example of a patrolman who doesn't want to irritate a potentially dangerous subject by touching him or risk being punctured by an infected hypodermic needle during a patdown.

Passive mmw cameras can be used for frisking a crowd of chanting political demonstrators for CCWs. It can also detect metallic or non- metallic firearms as well as as: non-metal grenades; plastic explosives; electronic listening devices; explosive timers; remote detonators; dry powders or liquids in centimeter- or larger-size plastic bags, vials or other containers.

The target price for the hand-held mmw camera is under $10,000. Further developement will reduce the size and price of the units.

Return to: a far away land called Ruritania .

Return to: the apparent paradox: privacy through publicity of personal information .