It is tough to hide from ID technology.

• Author: Foster, Sharon
• Position: Tech talk

Finding targets in heavy foliage, behind waits or battlefield smoke will become much easier, predict Air Force researchers. Target identification technology now in development would create devices that transmit impulse electromagnetic waveforms to illuminate targets. The signals pass through most barriers, such as walls and foliage, experts claim. Then, like sonar, they return to the receiving antenna. The returned signals are sent to a computer that is programmed to recognize certain items of interest, such as shotguns, pistols or assault rifles.

The project is called Target Identification Demonstration System, launched earlier this year by the Air Force Research...