Intro

Since the September 11th terrorist attacks, and subsequent related wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a bevy of new technologies have emerged to prevent terrorism and support a decade of conflict. Here is some of the tech that we may not have been familiar with before, but has become more present in the last decade. Follow InnovationNewsDaily on twitter <a mce_href="https://ex01.toptenreviews.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=fde89f5355934e75bce6db467d75015a&URL=http%3a%2f%2ftwitter.com%2f%23%21%2fNews_Innovation" href="https://ex01.toptenreviews.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=fde89f5355934e75bce6db467d75015a&URL=http%3a%2f%2ftwitter.com%2f%23%21%2fNews_Innovation">@News_Innovation</a>, or on <a mce_href="https://ex01.toptenreviews.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=fde89f5355934e75bce6db467d75015a&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.facebook.com%2fInnovationNewsDaily" href="https://ex01.toptenreviews.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=fde89f5355934e75bce6db467d75015a&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.facebook.com%2fInnovationNewsDaily">Facebook</a>.

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Biometric Sensors Through the scan of a fingerprint, an eye or even a small sample of your DNA a biometric sensor can determine whether or not to permit you access to a building or certain information. By using electrical currents a biometrics system can analyze not only physical, but behavioral aspects to determine that you are in fact who you say you are. Original research for biometric systems began with the FBI and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), who were looking into the technology that could automatically match fingerprints. In 1992, the government formed the Biometric Consortium, a group concerned with research, development and application of biometric technology. Started in 2009, a program was established in Afghanistan and Iraq to collect the fingerprints, iris scans, and facial images of Afghan national security forces, in order to prevent criminals and Taliban insurgents from infiltrating the army and police force. Soldiers have been provided with portable biometric scanners that enable them to take biometric scans while they are in the field.

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Military oddities before 9/11, menacing UAVs with names like Reaper and Vulture have become a staple of military operations over the last 10 years. Today, 44 different countries fly the machines. These drones can be remotely controlled or can fly autonomously based on pre-programmed flight plans. Part of the UAV's appeal is that there is no risk of loss of life if something happens to the drone. Originally used primarily for surveillance, drones quickly became weapons platforms and tools for remote assassination.

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Full Body Scanners After the attacks of September 11th, airport security became, understandably, much more stringent. It also became hilariously invasive and restrictive with American airports requiring fliers to remove their shoes, belts and outerwear.. And as if that wasn't intrusive enough, in 2010, travelers came face to face with the full body scanner. The scanners device that create image of a person's body through their clothing, enabling security to look for hidden objects without physically removing their clothes or making physical contact. At the moment, there are two types of full body scanner being used, the millimeter wave and the backscatter. The millimeter wave emits small radio waves that pass through clothing and returns an image of the body underneath. All that is supposed to show up is human skin, so anything else that appears on the images would be cause for alarm. The backscatter works by taking two low-level X-rays of you are taken within twenty seconds. If the electromagnetic waves are absorbed, then you pass on through security, but if you're hiding an object, it will reflect the rays and be visible in the scan.

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{youtube tsmpK8zsRkY} IED Jammers Improvised explosive devices (IED) are as old as World War 2; with Belarusian guerrillas used the devices to derail German trains. However, the devices came to prominence, and reached their deadly apex, when Iraqi, and later Afghan, insurgents began using them against Western forces in 2003. Often little more than fertilizer, a blasting cap and some trip wire, these bombs remain the leading cause of death and injury for all soldiers fighting in the post-9/11 wars. The devices are controlled remotely by a signal going to a remote-controlled IED operates on a radio or infrared frequency.In the past, IEDs have been so effective because the more complex they get, the harder it is to detect them. Now, thanks to the development of advanced IED jammers, soldiers have a tool that can not only jam bombs, but also find them, and interrupt their GPS signals. Jamming systems, technically known as Counter Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare (CREW) systems, attempt to intercept or block the radio signal before it reaches its intended IED, preventing detonation. The essentially create a bubble of interference around military vehicles, which prevents nearby IEDs from exploding when they are in the vicinity.

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SAFEE Along with the security measures that have been enhanced on the ground, there have also been steps to increase security and safety in the air as well. The Security of Aircraft in the Future European Environment (SAFEE) project is an advanced aircraft security systems that is focused on the use of an onboard threat detection system which can provide reliable information to both the flight crew and those on the ground as well. The system uses sensors, cameras, microphones, and biometric devices – capable of detecting biological and chemical agents through the plane's ventilation system – to monitor the behavior of the plane's passengers, as well as guide planes in distress to safety. According to its developers, the system would help the flight crew detect a whether or not a person is a threat before anything actually happens. The system even has biometric identifiers, so if anyone other than the pilot attempts to fly the plane, the aircraft goes into safe mode, and automatically flies to a 'safe zone'.

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NSA Data Mining As our main methods of communication have changed from telephone calls and letters to text messages and emails, government organizations such as the National Security Agency (NSA) have been focusing their attention on monitoring of e-mail messages and text messages, recording of Web browsing, and other forms of electronic data-mining. Although officially banned from monitoring U.S. citizens, a 2005 investigation by the New York Times discovered that the NSA had conducted large scale wiretapping on American citizens after 9/11. Even more impressive from a technological standpoint, the NSA developed sophisticated algorithms for sorting through the mass of phone calls, texts and emails that they processed every minute of every day.

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{youtube 8FEkDDbmoVQ} Robot Prosthetics Dubbed "The Luke Arm", after the Star Wars character who sported an astoundingly lifelike prosthetic, Dean Kamen's prosthetic arm can pick up pieces of paper, and even handle a single grape, and that’s just one of the various types of 'high powered prosthetic limbs'. Developed as a response to the flood of war wounded returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, this and similar robotic prosthetics, represent another example of how conflict can rapidly accelerate the development of new technologies. In recent years, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has funded research into 'targeted muscle reinnervation surgery', which uses prosthetics that transmit neural signals from a bundle of nerves in the chest as well as Modular Prosthetic Limbs from Johns Hopkins, which transmit cues to an artificial limb using brain-implanted micro-arrays. The hope is to eventually create a prosthetic limb that can be connected directly to the brain, enabling signals to reach the limb with the speed and complexity as if it were a real leg or arm.

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Directed Energy Weapons In a move that seems more science fiction than reality, the military has developed what could be labeled as a heat ray. Formally known as directed energy weapons, the devices are lasers that are capable of attacking enemy targets and disrupting missile guidance systems. Although research had been ongoing for years, the delicate work of counterinsurgency pursued in Iraq and Afghanistan prompted a new enthusiasm for energy weapons that disable without killing. Take the Active Denial Systems, which emits a 95 GHz millimeter-wave of directed energy as a form of crowd control. Already in use in prinsons, these devices create a feeling of sunburn or tingling, which enables those wielding the device to move through a crowd or control a group without causing any actual physical damage.

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Satellite Guided Parachutes Developed during World War 2, the airdrop was developed as a way to get supplies to otherwise inaccessible troops. For the most part, these drops entailed pushing a package with a parachute out of an airplane and hoping it landed where you wanted it to land. The extremely rugged conditions and isolated military bases in Afghanistan spurred the development of new, more accurate methods for resupply by air, resulting in the invention of satellite guided parachutes. With the development of better GPS devices, we now have more accurate methods of getting packages to those in areas that are out of reach. The Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS) was developed in 2006, and uses global positioning systems, maneuverable parachutes and onboard computers to increase just how precise airdrops can get. So far, the system has been used in Afghanistan to drop 2,200 pound packages within 200 feet of their intended target.

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Search and Rescue Robots The 9/11 age began with search and rescue through the rubble of the Twin Towers, and the need for technologies to assist first responders only became more obvious in the face of later attacks, such as the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. Enter the search and rescue robots, which have the ability to reach areas that human or animal rescuers cannot, or go into areas that may contain toxic conditions for living rescuers. These robots are outfitted with lifting arms that are capable of moving slabs of concrete, treads that enable them to climb up almost 90 degree angles and cameras that can provide a view of the situation that otherwise would not be possible. These devices also have the ability to work with rescuers, creating a tag team that can better assess damage or deal with a specific environment.