Engineers Say They've Created a Way to Detect Bombs and Guns Using Basic Wifi

Re:Engineers Say They've Created a Way to Detect Bombs and G... by akshayB on Thursday August 16, 2018 @10:00AM (#17774640)

This technology can prove useful for public safety since there are WiFi almost everywhere these days and all entry points in malls or schools can be covered very easily. There is a chance this can be misused as well.

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Re:Engineers Say They've Created a Way to Detect Bombs and G... by vorpalhex on Thursday August 16, 2018 @10:07AM (#17774686)

My mom worked at a bank that installed what they called a "man trap". Essentially there's a large magnetometer between two sets of heavy doors that locks the doors if it detects someone with a firearm (or any large block of magnetic material) has tried to enter the bank.

On any given week, they'd catch about a half dozen police officers, a maintenance person or two who still had their tools on them, and the occasional delivery person.

After a few weeks they disabled the system entirely.

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Re:Engineers Say They've Created a Way to Detect Bombs and G... by neuralRiot on Thursday August 16, 2018 @03:38PM (#17777836)

An interesting article about false positives and negatives and their impact in the reliability of a detection system. (I believe it has been linked in HN before) It explains why "95% accurate" is BS.

https://blog.danslimmon.com/2012/11/02/car-alarms-and-smoke-...

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Re:Engineers Say They've Created a Way to Detect Bombs and G... by cesarb on Thursday August 16, 2018 @04:47PM (#17778277)

I thought every bank branch had that (or a revolving door, also with a magnetometer). I don't recall ever seeing a bank branch without one. And it's not just large blocks of magnetic material, even small things like key chains can set them off.

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