How We Reverse Engineered the Cuban “Sonic Weapon” Attack
Mar 19, 2018 0:52:14 GMT -6
swamprat and jcurio like this
Post by plutronus on Mar 19, 2018 0:52:14 GMT -6
I have no idea where to 'put' this, as its an unsolved mystery. It is conspiratorial. It is political. It is an authentic matter (it really happened). It is technical. It is technologically advanced. And...you get the idea...
Let me point out that the article is VERY LONG and seems to be written for a lay-technical audience, while is purported to have been written by a couple of Ph.D. grad-students who make claims, in the paper, that they don't successfully substantiate, in my opinion. However, the article was posted by the IEEE (Industrial Electrical and Electronics Engineers Association). The article is an interesting read. But don't make the mistake of just skimming it, or just reading a few beginning paragraphs because if you do you'll miss interesting matter of interest to our community and then the beginning doesn't match the ending. Also be sure to read the comments by other engineers regarding (their opinions of) the validity of the claims. It begins with a puzzle, then a trail bread-crumbs to an 'intended conclusion'.
I'll post a portion of it here, but the majority is on the IEEE website. Normally one need be a degreed engineer to have access to these type articles, but for whatever reason, IEEE chose to give public access to this one article.
From:
spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/how-we-reverse-engineered-the-cuban-sonic-weapon-attack
15 Mar 2018 | 19:18 GMT
How We Reverse Engineered the Cuban “Sonic Weapon” Attack
By Kevin Fu, Wenyuan Xu and Chen Yan
Examining overlooked clues reveals how ultrasound could have caused harm in Havana
"Throughout last year, mysterious ailments struck dozens of U.S. and Canadian diplomats and their families living in Cuba. Symptoms included dizziness, sleeplessness, headache, and hearing loss; many of the afflicted were in their homes or in hotel rooms when they heard intense, high-pitched sounds shortly before falling ill. In February, neurologists who examined the diplomats concluded that the symptoms were consistent with concussion, but without any blunt trauma to the head. Suggested culprits included toxins, viruses, and a sonic weapon, but to date, no cause has been confirmed.
We found the last suggestion—a sonic weapon—intriguing, because around the same time that stories about health problems in Cuba began appearing, our labs, at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, and at Zhejiang University in China, were busy writing up our latest research on ultrasonic cybersecurity. We wondered, 'Could ultrasound be the culprit in Cuba?'
On the face of it, it seems impossible. For one thing, ultrasonic frequencies — 20 kilohertz or higher — are inaudible to humans, and yet the sounds heard by the diplomats were obviously audible. What’s more, those frequencies don’t propagate well through air and aren’t known to cause direct harm to people except under rarefied conditions. Acoustic experts dismissed the idea that ultrasound could be at fault.
Then, about six months ago, an editor from The Conversation sent us a link to a video from the Associated Press, reportedly recorded in Cuba during one of the attacks."