Anil K.

IVaini

OF'TOELECTRONICS
FOR LOW-INTENSITY CONFLICTS
AND HOMELAND SECURITY
Optoelectronics for Low-Intensity Conflicts
and Homeland Security
Anil K. Maini

ARTECH
HOUSE
BOSTONILONDON
artechhouse.com
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ISBN 13: 978-1-63081-570-7

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10987654321
 Sighting Observation and Surveillance Devices 197

5.6 Covert Laser Listening Devices

Laser listening devices, also called laser microphones, are covert surveillance de-
vices that utilize an invisible infrared laser beam to eavesdrop on a conversation
taking place in a remote room from a distance without entering the room. They
are used by law enforcement and security agencies to carry out covert surveil-
lance on suspect and rogue elements when it is not feasible to plant a listening
device in the targeted area. These devices are particularly useful in tactical situ-
ations when speed of acquiring information is of concern. Laser covert listening
devices with operational ranges of 100 to 1,OOOm are commercially available.
In the following sections, we describe the operational principle of laser micro-
phones followed by the salient features of some representative devices.

5.6.1 Operational Principle

A laser listening device is comprised of an infrared laser transmitter, an optical
receiver, and an electronics processing unit. Infrared laser beam from the laser
transmitter is beamed onto the surface of a windowpane of the room to be
monitored. The oscillating frequencies of the sound waves originating from the
speech conversations and other sounds inside the targeted room cause microvi-
brations of the surface of the windowpane. The infrared laser beam on striking
the windowpane encounters the microvibrations on the windowpane's surface.
The laser beam reflects off the surface of the windowpane back to an optical
receiver. The minute differences in the distance traveled by the light as it reflects
from the vibrating object are detected interferometrically in the optical receiver.
The receiver converts the path difference variations in the reflected laser beam
into intensity variations. The intensity variations are then converted into an
electrical signal, which is filtered and amplified and then converted back to
sound. The audio signal may be simultaneously available for real-time listening
or recorded on an external recorder.
There can be several possible optical arrangements that can be used to
build a laser microphone. One such arrangement is shown in Figure 5.26(a).
In this case, the laser beam is incident on the windowpane at an angle and
the optical receiver with the photodetector is placed closer to the windowpane
on the other side at an angle equal to the angle of incidence. In this case, the
microvibrations in the windowpane are good enough to deflect the laser beam
across the photodetector to induce intensity variations. This arrangement does
not make use of the interference phenomenon. In another optical arrangement
shown in Figure 5.26(b), which is a slight variation of the arrangement of Figure
5.26(a), the incident and reflected laser beams are bore-sighted and the trans-
mitter and receiver are collocated. The third optical arrangement shown in Fig-
ure 5.26(c) utilizes the principle of interferometry. It is essentially a Michelson
198 Optoelectronicsfnr Low-Intensity Conflicts and Homeland Security

+Window Window

Beam Splitter
Window

i
Detector

Laser
Laser Detector

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 5.26 Optical arrangements of a laser microphone.

interferometer. The problem with this setup is that the difference between the
two legs of the interferometer is too large, leading to loss of phase coherence
between the two beams, thereby limiting the sensitivity of the device.
This shortcoming is overcome in the optical arrangement of Figure 5.27.
This arrangement has nearly equal path lengths of the two legs of the interfer-
ometer, thereby preserving temporal coherence. The interferometer responds to
differential movements across a small section of the windowpane and signifi-
cantly rejects common-mode path disturbances.

5.6.2 Representative Systems

Laser-based listening devices capable of covert surveillance on suspects by listen-
ing to their conversations taking place in a remote room from a distance from
a few hundreds of meters have been developed and are commercially available.

Distant
window glass

Retarder
plate
Beam
splitter

Prism Detector
yllllwr
Laser CCD array
(len-less interference camera)
Figure 5.27 Interferometric set-up of a laser microphone with nearly equal path lengths.
 Sighting Observation and Surveillance Devices 199

The Opto Acoustical Laser Model SKU--1688 from Discovery Telecom has
a maximum operational range of 300m and can be used with any angle of direc-
tion. It does not necessarily need a glass windowpane for remote audio moni-
toring; it can pick up a signal from other materials such as paper, metal, plastic,
and textiles. The device is immune to interferences from its surroundings.
The PKI--3100 Laser Monitoring System from PKI Electronic Intelligence
GmbH, like other laser microphones, is used for covert observations. It is spe-
cially designed for acoustic monitoring through glass and windowpanes and
has a maximum operational range of 300m. The LAS-MIC Audio Monitoring
System from Endoacustica is similar to PKI-3100 and has same specifications.
Spectra M Laser Microphone from Detective Store Ltd. is a portable device with
a maximum operational range of 400m and has abuilt-in sound recorder.
EMAX--3100 from Electromax International, Inc. is the same as the PKI-3100.
The EMAX--2510, also from Electromax International, Inc., has an operational
range of 150m. The salient features of the EMAX-2510 include detection angle
independence, usability on a variety of target materials like paper, plastic, metal,
and glass, good speech intelligibility, and insensitivity to background noise and
interference that is facilitated by the use of an interferometric detection process.
The Long Range Laser Audio Surveillance Device from Eyetek Surveillance
Ltd. is a covert surveillance system capable of monitoring conversations in a
room from over 450m away. It, like other laser microphones, is designed for
use in situations when a building cannot be accessed to place a surveillance de-
vice in the targeted room. The device is packaged into standard SLR cameras,
which makes it look like a photographic setup, thereby allowing for further
concealment.