Posted on 04/14/2005 12:38:45 PM PDT by neverdem
Three companies are racing to market a new form of technology for detecting concealed weapons, using physics borrowed from radio astronomy and manufacturing techniques from cellular phone makers.
The technology, called millimeter wave, is a new category of sensing so unobtrusive that it seems like something out of "Star Trek."
Unlike conventional systems such as metal detectors, which sense magnetic fields created by certain materials or objects, or X-ray machines, which pass rays through objects, millimeter wave sensors are passive and rely on detecting energy emitted by objects.
The energy the sensors look for is in an unfamiliar part of the electromagnetic spectrum, different from the usual visible light or infrared. At wavelengths of two centimeters to one millimeter, the energy is much longer than light or infrared waves, and thus able to pass through clothing and similar material. Human bodies radiate the energy at a rate higher than metal, plastic or composite materials, so those objects can be spotted under clothing, in silhouette.
The sensors have been successfully demonstrated in laboratories and have been sold mostly to government agencies for evaluation.
With research grants from the National Institute of Justice, the technology arm of the Justice Department, and from the Defense Department and other federal agencies, three small firms - Brijot Imaging Systems, Millivision Technologies and Trex Enterprises - are working to manufacture portable sensor units.
"Millimeter wave imagery is remarkably well understood, but no one's been able to build anything cheap enough and small enough to be practical," said Brian Andrews, president and chief executive of Brijot Imaging, which is a partner with Lockheed Martin, the giant contractor.
Mr. Andrews says his company has done just that, with a $60,000 box that is supposed to be able to see from 5 to 45 feet, depending on the lens attached. A computer scans the images and looks for anomalies that could be weapons.
A second company, Trex Enterprises of San Diego, has a unit that sells for $50,000 (so far only to government customers), and is working on a hand-held version. Its chief technology officer, John A. Lovberg, compared the technology to infrared technology, which is also "passive," meaning that the sensor measures natural emissions rather than bouncing energy off the object being observed, as radar does. Infrared is used in a variety of settings, including military aviation.
Mr. Lovberg said that the technology mounted on cars or planes could also help drivers or pilots see through fog or smoke. Millimeter wave sensors, he said, can show "the difference between a road and a tree and a metal street sign."
Millivision, of South Deerfield, Mass., is marketing a detector about the size and shape of telescopes used by serious amateurs. The company is partly owned by L-3 Communications, a major manufacturer of scanning equipment. The potential market, said William J. Caragol, vice president for business development, is "any entrance that you pass through where there's a need for security."
"It expands," he said, "to every office building, stadiums - fill in the blank."
Millivision has a $60,000 device it has sold to government agencies for testing, Mr. Cargol said. With L-3, it is developing a portal with controlled-temperature conditions, for more accurate scanning. The Millivision sensor, he said, can spot a ceramic gun that a metal detector would miss.
The Justice Department expects to use the sensors as security tools for courthouses and other buildings, but says they could also have commercial applications.
Over the last eight years, the department has given about $7 million in research grants to companies working on millimeter wave technologies. Sara V. Hart, director of the National Institute of Justice, said in an e-mail message: "We want law enforcement and corrections officers to be able to detect any weapon, such as a bomb, gun, knife or nonmetallic weapon, from a safe distance. This would enable officers to make immediate protection decisions to protect themselves and the public."
She said that the technology could be "practical for use within the next few years" and that her agency had bought several systems for evaluation.
The energy levels detected by millimeter wave sensors are extremely small - mere whispers of energy measured in femto-joules, or quadrillionths of a joule. (A joule is the amount of energy of one watt applied for one second.) Chips, which are used in the sensors to process the data and run at speeds similar to the frequencies involved, 80 to 100 gigahertz, are still quite costly to make. But the machines that manufacture the chips have gotten cheaper because they are closely related to the machines that make chips for cellphones.
Mr. Lovberg of Trex said that advances in electronics are making millimeter wave technology more affordable. "Ten years ago, you couldn't buy amplifiers in this spectrum," he said of the amplifiers used in the sensors. But semiconductors made of gallium arsenide or indium phosphide can run in the frequencies required, he said. Those chips have been commercialized for use in other devices, and are now available for use in millimeter wave technology.
Tom Byrne, a member of the executive board of the Center for Commercialization of Advanced Technology, a public-private consortium in San Diego that provided a $75,000 grant to Trex, said, "In the past there was a lot of expense in the receiver because the signal is a low-grade, weak signal, and that pushed the price up." But now, the receivers are getting more sensitive, Mr. Byrne said, and that is reducing the price and making the sensors potentially viable.
Some companies are working on "active" millimeter wave systems, which are more like radar in bouncing energy off the person being studied, Mr. Byrne said. In fact, low-power radar is already in use at some airports to search arriving passengers. But radar systems raise potential health concerns from exposure to the energy, and also privacy issues because body parts are clearly visible. Active millimeter systems could raise the same worries.
Wasn't it just a couple days ago that the msm announced airlines were laying off the very employees who would one day be operating those gadgets?
"The Millivision sensor, he said, can spot a ceramic gun that a metal detector would miss."
How about guns that are made from the horns of magical unicorns? Can it detect those????
And further advances in nanotechnology will lead to this technology being incorporated into eyewear, which will lead to an abrupt halt to male productivity followed by a collapse of the world economy.
No, it was one of the Schwarzenegger movies.
Eraser, perhaps?
Nothing can detect those. They are so undetectable that the person using one doesn't even know he has it.
Total Recall
You mean I spent four years carving a working GLOCK out of ceramic for nothing!!??!!
Damn!
Macor?
You mean I spent four years carving a working GLOCK out of ceramic for nothing!!??!!
I made mine out of marzipan. That way, if they tried to arrest me, I could destroy the evidence by eating it.
Why are my tax dollars going to pay for this?? The liberals are getting really nervous.
Yeah, and what about the guns made from human teeth?
Honestly the best way to get a firearm into a secure area is to the let the PC hired, bell curve trained rent a cop carry it in for ya .......take it from em and game is on if yer dumb enough to play such a terrorist game. Or go where a law abidding armed citizen is not welcomed in the first place.
The military has been looking at millimeter wave technology for the terminal guidance of munitions for at least a decade, maybe two decades or more. Check SADARM near the bottom of this link.
SADARM consists of two submunitions in a 155-millimeter shell. As the shell descends into the target area after launch, it ejects the two submunitions, which then release a ballute to stabilize themselves, and finally release parachutes to slow their descent. Each submunition carries an infrared and a millimeter-wave sensor, and as the submunition descends it scans the area below it for the signature of an armored vehicle.
Considering the incidents where illegal aliens were working in secure areas, I would think it would be fairly easy to smuggle any number of weapons around security
If the magic has fresh batteries, yes.
Oh yeah.....I was tasked to test such security on a regular basis as an EOD troop with my improvised "inert" IED training aids etc etc ......Security is only for folks who respect uniforms, locks and rules. I know the level of security TSA has and it's value thus I have not flown since I retired......nor will I ever again.
I would be surprised if terrorists try to hijack passenger aircraft again. The pilot might be armed, or an air marshall could be aboard. After Flight 93 showed that the passengers would rather be part of the unorganized militia than remain on a kamikaze mission, hijacking planes for such missions don't have as much chance for success as they initially did. I'll fly again if I need to fly, not for pleasure because it blows now with this BS security.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.