Review on Less-Lethal Electrical Weapons: Evolution, Mechanisms, and Critical Technology

There is currently an urgent need for less-lethal weapons in police activities, such as combating crime, maintaining stability, and handling conflicts. Less-lethal electrical weapons have been highly valued due to their ability to provide a timely response, effective results, and minimal risk. This paper summarizes the development history of these weapons, elaborates their injury mechanisms, and discusses their safety and ethical legal requirements based on clinical forensic evidence. And analyzes their system composition, key technologies, and weapon applicability from voltage generation to action effect. The study shows that less-lethal electrical weapons can be divided into five generations and three distinct categories. Their operational distance progressively increases from about 1 m to about 30 m, and their safety and reliability gradually improve. The fundamental mechanism of these weapons involves the potential disturbance of nerve cells and muscle cells by electric fields. This mechanism is broadly divided into two types: high-frequency, low-power, small-spaced electrodes that act on superficial neurons to cause electroshock stun and low-frequency, high-power, large-spaced electrodes that act on motor neurons to induce muscle contraction. It has good safety while avoiding affecting high-risk groups and strictly complying with relevant ethical and legal requirements. The system mainly consists of a pulsed power supply, working electrodes, and a launching platform. Its key technologies included micro high-voltage pulsed power supply technology, electrode adaptive discharge technology, and projectile/target adaptation technology. These technological developments need to balance and optimize key parameters such as power, electrode action mode, and projectile projection accuracy for the applicability of three types of less lethal electrical weapons. This research can promote technological advancement and enhance law enforcement applications of less-lethal electrical weapons.