Sensors used at the Groom Lake border

sensors used at the Groom Lake border

The information in the link above is strictly for the EMIDS system used at the Groom Lake border. This is not the only sensor system employed. There are fixed and panable (sp?) camera systems. Force protection can employ thermal sensing, microwave or fiber optic detection schemes. Microwave detection is kind of obvious. Fiber optic detection is a bit more complicated. If you know how a time domain reflectometer works, then suffice it to say the fiber optic detection scheme works by sensing a deformation in the fiber optic cable. Though usually only in fences, the scheme in theory could be buried in the ground. This would detect a vehicle but less likely for a person on foot.

Regarding the EMIDS system described in the link, to the best of my knowledge the base only uses the magnetometer system. Passive infrared has been spotted in the past, but not at present.

As always, don't do anything stupid. Never cross the border. And if you do, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.Oh, and be sure to have your arrest on youtube.

reply to post by gariac


I used an OTDR years ago (at least six) when I worked for a scientific instruments rental company and am very familiar with it.

I also worked for an Australian defence contracting aircraft company and they had a microwave "boundary fence".

At the time I was working on the Interscan Prototype and so I was machining microwave waveguides. Needless to say, we went "through the fence" whenever we wanted. and they never had a clue (perhaps they did but didn't care).

If you are happy enough with carrying around a large reflector array, microwaves as a detector are just as compromisable as light.

Don't carry metal, keep low to the ground and move slowly.

(I wonder what ever happened to the Desert Rat out at Groom?)

reply to post by chr0naut


Glenn Campbell, AKA the Desert Rat author, now has a blog
Area 51 loose ends

If you have a metal reflector, that would be detected by the microwave system, right?

reply to post by gariac


Absolutely metal detector will likely = detection.

Basically, you need to avoid anything that becomes an attenuator or amplifier of microwaves (Remenbering that the water molecule fits this criteria).

If you can insert a "bypass" into the system (a reflector around a particular area) without someone figuring out it wasn't just a glitch, you have free access (hint: wax refracts like a lens, smooth metal reflects like a mirror, resonant cavities can "eat" microwave energies - but you need to get the wavelength right). Optics, as an analogy, work similarly.

reply to post by chr0naut


Hmmh, I think riding a cow would do the trick. The cattle are not fenced off from the base. Problem is cattle aren't exactly trained for transit. ;-) I don't recall seeing wild horses by the base, except at the TTR.

I assume the microwave is zoned. You could probably move around undetected if you move while a nearby dude-mobile or contractor vehicle is also moving.

Note that as contractors move around the range, they trip sensors all the time. The rule is they get on the trunk system and state where they are moving. There are barrels with numbers stenciled on them near the gates

sign

reply to post by gariac


I notice the signs say ASI Security, is that a new company or just a re-badge of Whackenhut?

Always been interested in A51 since someone with the same surname as me was mentioned as one of the cammo dudes in the big toxic leak court case there.

Back then, base security was all Whackenhut (private company) & not gov't as far as I know.

reply to post by chr0naut


The NTS, TTR and Groom Lake often used different private security. I think it was to prevent the possibility of one person getting the entire "lay of the land" by having access via one employer to all three facilities. To this day, the TTR uses the Washington Group, NTS uses Wackenhut (now Securitas I think), and Groom uses USR "federal".

Y'know, to block IR, you can wear a survival/space blanket as a poncho.

reply to post by chr0naut


Hi there ,

many thanks for informative posts, its what i think makes ATS great.

could you poss elaborate on the `wax`.....you mentioned...

thanks
snoopyuk

Originally posted by Kojiro
Y'know, to block IR, you can wear a survival/space blanket as a poncho.

Wow, yeah, you won't stand out or be observable wearing that.
Might as well craft and wear a big pointy tinfoil hat as well...

reply to post by FosterVS


Yes, because all survival blankets are silvery white. After all, the military doesn't care if enemies can see their blankets from far away.

www.gunaccessories.com...