U.S. special forces are taking a more 'intimate' approach to remotely identifying targets, using lasers to sense their heartbeat.

According to MIT Technology Review, the Pentagon has developed a prototype of the technology, code-named 'Jetson,' that uses infrared lasers to read a person's cardiac signature.

Though far less obvious than fingerprints or faces, people's heartbeats have a distinct profile, making them among the most useful biometrics for uniquely identifying a person.

Using a laser U.S. special operations will be able to identify subjects based on a unique heartbeat.

HOW CAN YOU BE IDENTIFIED BY YOUR HEARTBEAT? Like fingerprints, faces, and even the way you walk, heartbeats have a unique signature. Using senors, those cardiac profiles can be leveraged in biometric security, and now: surveillance. By using infrared lasers, the Pentagon has developed a laser that can read someone's heartbeat from 200 meters. The technology could help identify insurgents in an active war zone and is more accurate than facial recognition. To make the method viable, U.S. Special Forces would likely need to build a database. Advertisement

What separates the signature from others like it, however, is the fact that unlike a face, which may bear many similar features to another, heartbeats are entirely distinct.

As noted by MIT, companies like Nymi are already using cardiac signatures -- taken via a wrist-mounted pulse sensor -- to identify people for security purposes.

Another advantage that has made the type of detection particularly desirable for the U.S. military is the use of lasers, which allows for a relatively long-range.

Current prototypes work from about 200 meters (219 yards) and with further modifications that range could be extended.

'I don’t want to say you could do it from space,' Steward Remaly, of the Pentagon’s Combatting Terrorism Technical Support Office told MIT. 'But longer ranges should be possible.'

Heartbeat patterns which are gleaned by detecting the changes in infrared light cause by a person's blood flow, are not only highly accurate -- about 95 to 98 percent -- but also versatile.

Unlike facial recognition, which may require a clear view of someone's face or be obfuscated by facial hair or other conditions, laser-detected heartbeats can be captured through normal clothing and at a number of angles.

The method does require an invisible laser to be pointed at a subject for about 30 seconds to get a sufficient read, meaning the technology can only be viably used on someone who is standing still.

Heartbeat detection can beat out the use of facial recognition or other biometric methods of surveillance in range, accuracy, and versatility.

As far as applications go, the military suggested that the technology could be used to identify insurgents by matching their heartbeats from a drone.

Like any biometric database, however, the biggest obstacle to making such a use reality would be generating a database large enough to cross-reference.

The technology may also find its way into more civilian uses like hospitals where doctors would be able to monitor a patients blood flow without ever having to hook someone up to a machine.