The Department of Homeland Security’s advanced technology
shop is looking at small businesses to provide improved non-lethal
equipment to bring to bear on unruly crowds.
The goal is to create a product with the incapacitating effects
of a Taser, but at stand off ranges.
The Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency said it
is seeking untethered electromuscular disruptor devices that are
inexpensive, safe, lightweight and portable. The systems would be
used in environments varying “from a small room to a city
street or a sports stadium,” the solicitation stated.
Awards for stun gun technology have been granted to several companies.
Winners include the Midé Technology Corporation, with a “Piezer”
system that combines the “effectiveness, legal and social
acceptability of the Taser with the ease of use, practicality and
extended range of shotgun shells,” according to the company.
“Utility of the Piezer is probably best realized in crowd-control
situations or riots having high levels of aggression,” the
company advised in its proposal.
The 12-gauge shotgun-compatible device boasts an increased range
40 to 50 meters more than existing non-lethal weapons. The system
uses piezoelectric technology to generate high voltage in a small
package. In a piezoelectric material, the application of force or
stress results in a charge. Computer keyboards operate this way.
The ordinance used by the Piezer is designed to deliver high-energy
stun pulses upon impact.
UHV Technologies, Inc. is also developing projectiles to be fired
from a grenade launcher or shotgun that stuns targets using a strong
electrostatic charge. Think of the crackle from running a hand over
fur, multiplied by several orders of magnitude.
Physical Optics Corp. is pursuing a gentler approach by developing
a soft ring airfoil, laced with a thin film voltage generator.
The company’s Inertial Capacitive Incapacitator offers a
heavy charge delivered with a low impact. ICI projectiles are charged
when manufactured, and company officials said the system could maintain
this charge for decades.
The projectiles “will dramatically reduce the risk of accidental
lethal injury, and can replace present non-lethal weapons,”
the company said. “The ICI technology will replace blunt trauma
with much safer electrical incapacitation.”
Other companies are looking at light to incapacitate. Intelligent
Optical Systems won an award to work on its prototype dazzler that
uses an array of super-bright diode clusters to disorientate crowds
with strong afterimages. The HSARPA project funds development of
a device that can operate at longer distances, incorporates a laser
rangefinder and can cover a much larger area “while still
providing a flash frequency and exposure level as effective as the
single beam.”
One of HSARPA’s missions is to harness talent from small
businesses to meet domestic security needs. The Small Business Innovative
Research funding level will be approximately $23 million this fiscal
year, a $20 million increase from last year. The funds will pay
for new HSARPA projects, as well as a program that can provide technical
assistance or commercialization support to SBIR award winners, according
to the agency.