Wednesday, August 24, 2016

[xkucmdks] Shiny sphere

An aircraft encounters a laser shined at it attempting to blind the pilot.  Cameras and other sensors aboard the plane track the laser back to its source, but the source is revealed to be a small shiny sphere, so the attacker's original beam could have originated from anywhere with direct sight of the sphere, or beyond that if multiple reflections.

It is curious how geometry provides such a powerful concealment ability.  Compare it to how easy it is to trace a bullet back to its source.

Should shiny spheres be outlawed?  Will they be?

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