Sonic 'Lasers' Head to Katrina Flood Zone

I attended a private demonstration for military and law enforcement of new nonlethal acoustic devices yesterday at Edwards AFB. Here's my report for Wired News.

Air-raid sirens, Frank Sinatra songs and Muhammad Ali trash talk blared over the Southern California desert in a demonstration of new acoustic technology for crowd control and disaster communications.

In mid-90's morning heat at Edwards Air Force Base, HPV Technologies and American Technology demonstrated prototypes of non-lethal sonic devices for a group of military and law enforcement guests, including representatives of the U.K. Home Office.

Representatives of both companies say that within days, they will ship some units of their respective products to areas hit by Hurricane Katrina, so authorities can use the tools for crowd control, aid distribution and rescue operations.

Costa Mesa, California-based HPV showed off three sizes of its Magnetic Acoustic Device, or MAD, a black square panel composed of multiple speakers. The units on display ranged from about 4 to 10 feet across. The device uses magnets approximately 6 inches tall and 9.25 inches wide to convert electrical pulses into sound waves, and is capable of aiming sound precisely for thousands of feet — like the sonic equivalent of a laser, or spotlight.

Link to story.

Above, snapshot I took of a technician behind three MADs. We heard sound blasted from these devices up to and beyond a one mile mark on this road, below. Some of it hurt.

(Thanks, Cyrus Farivar!)