Anti-personnel “non-lethal” directed-energy weapons are completely different than our Centurio LLLW “Lightning Less-Lethal Weapon” systems and what is a Strobe Light?
What is a Strobe Light? Is it dangerous? What happens to the eye when it gets “strobed”?
Change your mind about flashlights!. Today a flashlight is not only a simple illumination tool — it is also a practical protection device. Strobe technology can save your life because the strobe was designed to confuse the suspect /criminal. In the face of the rapidly-changing illumination, it is difficult for the subject to concentrate on the police officers, their defensive movement, or to react or target the police officers. Strobe lights produce regular flashes of light that are extremely disorienting for the targeted subject. A strobe light is not the same light as an arc or a welder’s flash. Corneal flash burns are a painful ocular condition. It is also referred to as an arc flash (or arc blast). The event is a type of electronic explosion that results from a low impedance connection to the ground or another voltage phase in an electrical system. A typical commercial strobe light has a flash energy in the region of 10 to 150 joules and has a discharge time shorter than a few milliseconds, often resulting in a flash power of several kilowatts. Larger strobe lights can be used in “continuous” mode, thereby producing extremely intense illumination. This type is much more dangerous than the patent strobe technology of CenturioLight. You know it is a great technology if you get feedback a suspect telling you “Wow, man! I could not see anything!!” This technology can definitely save a police officer’s life, day or night. Strobe lighting can trigger seizures in photosensitive epileptic people. Most of the strobe lights on sale to the public are factory-limited to about 10-12 flashes per second in their internal oscillators, whereas externally- triggered strobe lights will often flash as frequently as possible. At a frequency of 10 Hz, 65% of affected people are still at risk. The British Health and Safety Executive recommends that the flash-rate for strobe lights not exceed 5 flashes per second, a level at which only 5% of photosensitive epileptics are at risk. It also recommends that no strobing effect continue for more than 30 seconds due to the potential for discomfort and disorientation.
Physiology of the Eye Let us review a few basic parts of the eye that are important to understand, what a strobe is, and what happens when the eyes get “strobed”. The eye has the ability to adjust itself very quickly to a steady light. Therefore, the advantage to blind the attacking person gets lost. It becomes harder for the eye to fix on a target behind the light or to determine the distance to the source. The light can thus be used as a protective “shield”.
Can LLLW “Lightning Less-Lethal Weapon”Really Make You Puke?
Can so-called “flashlight” weapons really make you vomit? Or send you into an epileptic fit? I have a feature in New Scientist on non-lethal strobe devices — new arms, relying on flashing lights, like the PugioLight Series, Raider EX, or the BAD series searchlight-based “Immobilization Device,” and Nanohmics’ non-pyrotechnic stun grenade. There is a great deal of debate over how well these devices work and what their effects are. That’s because the NATO tests have traditionally been more concerned with environmental health. In the meantime, there are some myths we can clear up pretty quickly: “It makes you vomit,” as popularized in by Fox News’ story (Fox News a United States news TV station), Flashlight Weapon Makes Targets Throw Up. Although disorientation, dizziness and nausea were quoted by all the designers as common effects, nausea is not the same as throwing up. “If you shut your eyes it makes the weapon useless.” This one amuses everyone working in the field. If you close your eyes you can’t run away, you can’t fight back, aim a weapon or effectively resist arrest. You have immobilized yourself and made your self helpless, which is exactly what the less-lethal weapon-makers have in mind. Many cop’s comment that the way “If they close their eyes, then I’ve got ‘em.” We sees the RAIDER EX, BAD & PUGIOLIGHT’S as being close to the lowest rung of the ladder of force. It may not subdue a suspect every time, but even if it is effective some of the time and prevents officers from having to use a electronic stungun or a firearm then it will be well worthwhile. The new generation of strobe devices are lightweight, cheap and have an unlimited supply of ammo.
We see things every day, from the moment we wake up in the morning until we go to sleep at night. We look at everything around us using light.
Visible light waves are the only electromagnetic waves we can see. We see these waves as the colors of the rainbow. Each color has a different wavelength. Red has the longest wavelength and violet has the shortest wavelength. When all the waves are seen together, they make white light. When white light shines through a prism, the white light is broken apart into the colors of the visible light spectrum. Water vapor in the atmosphere can also break apart wavelengths creating a rainbow.
So what is than Anti-personnel “non-lethal” directed-energy weapons and why Is it dangerous?
On the point we need first to ask you do you really know what is a Laser is? please read that point first to make sure that you understand the technology.
Laser technology plays a pivotal role in science fiction movies and books. It’s no doubt thanks to these sorts of stories that we now associate lasers with futuristic warfare and sleek spaceships.But lasers play a pivotal role in our everyday lives, too. The fact is, they show up in an amazing range of products and technologies. You’ll find them in everything from CD players to dental drills to high-speed metal cutting machines to measuring systems. Tattoo removal, hair replacement, eye surgery — they all use lasers and not a toy to play with, a tool who can removal Tattoo’s or you can do eye suregery is dangerous. But What makes a laser beam different from the beam of a flashlight? A flashlight will emit polychromatic and unphased, (incoherent), light.(Many wavelengths and not ‘in step’) A lase will emit monochromatic phased, (coherent), light.(One, (or a very narrow band of), wavelength, and all ‘in step’.) A laser can be focused much finer and can delivera very specific kind of energy to a small point. The phased light is useful for ultra-fine distance measurement. Reflected laser light retains its wavelength signature and can be used for timed pulse distance measurement, and doppler speed measurement. In this article, you’ll learn all about the different types of lasers, their different wavelengths and the uses to which we put them. But first, let’s start with the fundamentals of laser technology: go to the next page to find out the basics of an atom.
What are these devices?
Anti-personnel “non-lethal” directed-energy weapons include lasers, high-power electro-magnetic pulse, and directional acoustic devices. One of the systems currently in use is the handheld or weapon-mounted low-power device using a 250-milliwatt, 532nm green laser. When directed at the target, the laser’s beam temporarily expands to generate a blinding light which penetrates smoke and fog at twice the range of white light. Modulation of such high-intensity light causes disorientation and a dazzle/blink reaction that reduces the target’s activities. Such a weapon could be used to disorient and degrade performance of potential threats, such as snipers or subjects armed with RPG launchers.
Centurio’s Comment: The laser systems work without question, but are they a non-lethal technology? Well, Centurio and many other experts around the world agree that in the recent past, citizens have used civilian green and red laser-pointers (which can be bought in toy shops) to aim at aircraft! Read below the report about the civilian laser which was a tool to aim a aircraft. The report comes from a website which is pro-lasers for civilians to own. (www.laserpointersafety.com).
NEVER aim laser pointers at aircraft!
It is unsafe, you may be arrested, and you may help get laser pointers banned.
Here’s why you should NEVER aim a laser pointer at an airplane or helicopter: it is dangerous for the pilot and it is illegal.
Distracting or flash-blinding pilots is dangerous. When a laser beam is focused on an aircraft, pilots see a flash of light. This can be distracting at best. Worse, the light can be so bright that it causes glare (pilots can’t see past the light) or temporary flashblindness. Additionally, some pilots have thought a laser gunsight was being aimed at them so they have taken evasive action during take-off or landing.
You may be arrested
Laser users are frequently arrested for aiming the devices at airplanes or helicopters. It is surprisingly easy to locate these people. And authorities have taken laser incidents more seriously. If a civilian laser with only a 5-milliwatt laser pointer is so powerful you can aim a it at an aircraft at 1,200 feet or more, what will be happen to your eyes if you get shot with a 250- milliwatt of 532nm green-laser? Centurio believes in the strobe technology that we call LLLW “Lightning Less-Lethal Weapons” which is a completely different scientific principle than the anti-personnel non-lethal directed-energy weapon. Is the Centurio LLLW system really non-lethal? The answer is “It is like any weapon. Any less-lethal weapon that is used improperly can quickly become a lethal weapon”. That is why Centurio always has advocated product training for military and police. Don’t think that a LLLW system is just a light and cannot injure the attacker. It can be possible that if not correctly used, it can — but no one can be blinded by only the flash hitting their eyes.
Also read what the “Stars and Stripes Magazine” says about the green laser systems:
“Military sees rise in eye injuries from lasers” (Mideast edition, Sunday, June 14, 2009)
A tool that the U.S. military says is saving civilian lives in Iraq and Afghanistan has backfired in the hands of some soldiers, causing temporary — and in at least two cases, permanent — eye damage to fellow troops.
PHOTO: A Petty Officer sights in on a target with the Green Beam III-C at Cheatham Annex, Va. The Navy will use laser lights on ships and for deployed sailors downrange.
Laser-related eye injuries among U.S. soldiers in Iraq have risen significantly in the last six months, prompting the military to review its use of green lasers. The lasers, put out a green light that looks a bit like a sniper rifle laser. They allow soldiers to get the attention of Iraqi drivers, without firing warning shots, at security checkpoints, in military convoys and on vehicle patrols. And if a suspicious vehicle or pedestrian doesn’t stop, the lasers can temporarily blind or disorient, giving soldiers a means of suppression without firing bullets. Part of soldiers’ “escalation-of-force” kits, green lasers have been used in Iraq for two years, said Lt. Col. David Patterson Jr., spokesman for Multi-National Corps—Iraq. He said the military is not aware of any injuries to Iraqis. Checks with Baghdad hospitals and human rights campaigners also did not turn up reliable estimates on injuries to civilians. Nonlethal weapons “help fill the gap between shouting and shooting,” said Kelley Hughes, a spokeswoman for the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate based in Quantico, Va., in an e-mail. But in recent months, the lasers have been beamed in the eyes of soldiers, either accidentally by another soldier, or in one case through inadvertent self-inflicted exposure, according to Maj. Paul Hayes, 3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) spokesman. Since November 2008, the 3rd ESC has had 64 laser incidents reported in Iraq, resulting in 45 documented injuries to soldiers. Two of those injuries were permanent — one soldier is now legally blind in one eye, Hayes said. Both Multi-National Corps—Iraq and 3rd ESC Commander Brig. Gen. Michael Lally are stepping up laser safety and training efforts, including confiscating some unapproved lasers and establishing green laser training requirements and detailed safety accident reporting and training, officials said. Army Capt. Russell Harris, commander of B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 124th Cavalry Regiment, alerted his battalion command in January after observing that some units were using lasers as signaling devices and inadvertently shined lasers in the eyes of soldiers inside their trucks, he said. “We stopped some convoys, telling them, ‘Hey, you need to be more careful with that laser; you lased our truck,’ ” Harris said. Despite guidelines calling for troops to shine the lasers into car windshields only under dire circumstances, on three recent patrols in Baghdad soldiers did so for seemingly routine traffic control. Harris has had six soldiers in his unit beamed in “friendly” laser incidents, he said. “It’s just like being blinded by a bright light,” he said. “Some of the guys complained of headaches.” The soldiers were treated locally and none suffered lasting damage, Harris said. Of the two soldiers from elsewhere in 3rd ESC with permanent eye injuries, one was attempting to employ the laser on a fast-approaching vehicle, Hayes said. To avoid exposing his arms above the turret, he shined his laser through a bulletproof window. The beam reflected back in his eye, causing an injury. The other soldier was “lased” by a convoy entering an installation while the soldier manning an entry control point guard tower, Hayes said. At least five U.S. troops have been medically evacuated from Iraq since December due to serious eye injuries caused by green lasers, according to U.S. military officials. Dr. (Maj.) Omaya Youssef, the chief of Ophthamology Services at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, said the hospital has seen anywhere from five to eight laser injuries in the last two years, most due to accidental exposure. “Usually, the damage is temporary,” he said, “but they have to be evaluated by a retina specialist in the States.” The green lasers can damage the eye’s photo receptors, which are the cells in the retina that catch light, Youssef said. If damaged, “they leave a small blind spot in your vision” about the size of a quarter, he said. (www.stripes.com)
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