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Peek-A-Boo! DARPA’s Developing Sensors to Track You by Your Heartbeat

Doesn’t matter if you’re a ninja or a polar bear blinking in a blizzard—if you’ve got a heartbeat, this new sensor system will find you. It’s called “Biometrics-at-a-distance” and does everything but smell your fear.

Currently under development by the Department of Defense’s research arm, the sensors will listen for a suspect’s individual pulse using electrocardiography and will be able to track up to 10 suspects at a distance of over 10 meters. No physical contact with the subject is necessary, nor is line-of-sight. It is also being designed to penetrate walls, floors, and doors—even concrete—to track individuals in dense urban settings. Hiding—behind walls, under floors, or in crowds—is no longer an effective means of escape.

Its first use will primarily be on the battlefield, not only letting soldiers know what’s on the other side of a door before they breach it, but also for front-line triage and health monitoring. [DoD via Wired – Image via: viviamo / Shutterstock]


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