Laser Vibrometry

What follows is an excerpt from Ryan Pickrell's 6-27-19 Business Insider article entitled "This U.S. Military Laser Can Identify People By Their Heartbeats From 650 Feet Away":

Just as everyone has unique fingerprints, everyone also has a unique heartbeat, and that concept is crucial to the US military's newest identification device.

The Department of Defense, at the request of US special operations forces, used this principle to develop an infrared laser that can identify enemy combatants from a distance by reading their cardiac signature, the MIT Technology Review reported Thursday, citing Pentagon officials.

Jetson, as the US military's new device is called, uses laser vibrometry (non-contact vibration measurements) to detect surface movement caused by a person's heartbeat. The device is an extension of existing technology, such as already available equipment for measuring vibrations in distant structures like wind turbines.

The laser is reportedly able to penetrate clothing and achieve a positive identification roughly 95 percent of the time from up to 200 meters away, or about 650 feet, and there is the real possibility that the range could be extended.

"I don't want to say you could do it from space, but longer ranges should be possible." Steward Remaly, a defense official in the Pentagon's Combatting Terrorism Technical Support Office, told MIT Technology Review.

This technology is still in its early stages. The laser device can't penetrate thick clothing and the person must be sitting or standing in one place for it to work. It takes about 30 seconds to get a reading.

And then there is a need for the creation of a cardiac signature database....

To read Pickrell's entire article, click HERE.