Qinetiq pushes scanner envelope

With the growing national emphasis on security, QinetiQ, a leading security solutions organisation, born from the UK Government's defence research agency, is marketing a variety of cost effective people screening solutions that can help protect society.

At one end of the spectrum there's QinetiQ's new, highly portable Ferroguard(r) metal detector system that has already successfully undergone several high-profile UK and European mainland trials. It provides an immediate, affordable and flexible solution to the growing problem of knives and similar offensive weapons being carried in public.

Ideal for schools, prisons, commercial premises, nightclubs, sports events and other public buildings, this passive system will detect knives and other metal objects but has no effect on pacemakers, mobile radios or telephones and will not alarm on a large proportion of coins or keys.

Unlike conventional large, heavy archway metal detectors that are cumbersome to deploy, QinetiQ's compact system can be transported and deployed from a small vehicle by a single operator within minutes. It is available as either a highly portable floor standing system or as a wall mounted units to provide discreet security for commercial premises. Power is drawn from a normal mains socket or from a rechargeable battery with up to 48 hrs operational life. A waterproof version, ideal for use at outside events, is also available.

At the other end of the spectrum, QinetiQ has developed an advanced security screening device based on millimetre wave imaging technologies that can detect hidden metallic, non metallic or other concealed weapons.

The system produces real-time moving images of people in complete safety and allows operators to accurately locate where the threat item is hidden upon the body and take appropriate action. Such systems could provide high visibility security at airports other public buildings and secure areas for VIP protection.

QinetiQ conducted a trial of a prototype millimetre wave imager at London's Gatwick airport in 2002, with favourable response from both passengers and operating staff. A new demonstrator has now been developed that includes a number of improvements in both design and performance and further enhancements are still being developed. Field of-view has been increased to allow full body capture, image quality has been improved and the equipment design has been streamlined, improving passenger throughput and making it easier to install.

QinetiQ has also developed a number of other security products based on millimetre wave technology. The Borderwatch system is operated by HM Immigration Service and Eurotunnel and is designed to detect people trying to enter Britain illegally hidden in the back of lorries. Borderwatch units are currently in operation at French and other European ports and several thousand 'clandestines' have been detected.

QinetiQ's Tarsier system, also based on high-resolution millimetre wave radar, has proven to detect and locate small objects and debris on an airport runway at a distance of up to two kilometres. It has undergone trials at several high profile airports including Heathrow and in Vancouver, Canada with others including the US Federal Aviation Administration planning to evaluate the system.

AVSelli develops vehicle barriers - A range of portable rapidly deployable vehicle barriers has been developed by Melbourne based company AVSelli.

The barriers are designed to be employed in situations wherever road or building access needs to be controlled quickly as a result of rapidly rising civil or military tension.

The barriers are designed to function as "speed humps" when they are not deployed as barriers and as such can be installed on a semi-permanent basis should this be necessary.

The LW 4 barrier has been tested to in excess of 300 Kilojoules (a family car at 80 km/h) and the LW 2 is designed to manage 105 Kilojoules. Both barriers are designed to deal with their rated loads in less than one metre.

Installation is quick and if a suitable rigid substrate is available they may be bolted to that surface. Both the LW 4 and its little brother the LW 2 are designed for airfreight and weigh less than 500kg and 120 kg respectively.

Rand warns on airliner anti-missile systems - It is currently not cost-effective to spend billions of dollars equipping America's 6,800 commercial airliners with systems to guard against attacks from shoulder-fired missiles, but the investment could be justified later if anti-missile systems are made more economical and reliable, according to a RAND Corporation study, titled "Protecting Commercial Aviation Against the Shoulder-Fired Missile Threat," issued recently.

Installing such systems on the nation's fleet of commercial airlines would cost an estimated $11b, with operating costs ramping up to $2.1b annually upon full operational capability, according to the RAND report. Over 20 years, the cost to develop, procure and operate these systems would amount to an estimated $40b.

By way of comparison, the US government currently spends about $4.4b annually on all transportation security.

RAND researchers found there are still many unresolved questions about how the systems would operate on commercial airlines, including issues such as the number of false alarms that may occur and whether terrorists could find ways to circumvent the safeguards.

The most-promising near-term solutions to attacks by shoulder-fired missiles, also known as MANPADS, are laser jammers which soon will be commercially available. They are designed to disrupt a MANPADS' guidance system, causing a missile to miss its target.

But given the enormous cost of installing anti-missile systems compared with other homeland security measures, researchers suggest that officials explore less costly approaches in the near term while launching efforts to improve and demonstrate the reliability of the systems.

Meanwhile, Northrop Grumman has announced it will install and flight test its Guardian commercial aircraft protection system on a Northwest Airlines 747 and a FedEx MD-11 this year under its contract from the US Department of Homeland Security.

The system uses military directional infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) technology to protect commercial aircraft from attack by ground-based, shoulder-fired missiles.

Training CCTV cameras to spot - Closed Circuit TV cameras that can think for themselves are being developed in the UK under a joint venture between academics from Surrey University, Kingston University, the Police Scientific Development Branch and the Home Office.

At the centre of the project is the development of a revolutionary computer program that will be connected to CCTV cameras with the aim to identify criminals on the spot and to alert police instantly. Even a lone suitcase can be recognised by the thinking CCTV cameras. They will automatically alert security forces, helping to combat the threat of terrorism.

Dr Bogdan Vrusias from Surrey University's Department of Computing explained: "We will program computers so that they will automatically detect and register criminal activity while it is happening. Criminals can be caught red-handed - with the computer program recognising instantly images such as broken glass or violent behaviour recorded by the high-tech CCTV footage."

The process works on the basis that the computer is taught to associate keywords with images. In a similar application the principle can also be used to train the computer to recognise and match individual features given by witnesses. At present it takes an average of four hours to manually mark up one hour of video footage from police CCTV cameras.

Dustbin designed to deter terrorists - A dustbin designed to deter terrorists was just one of the student projects showcased recently at Staffordshire University Graduate Exhibition.

It is the work of mechanical engineering student James Jarrett, 21, whose final year project is the concept design of a dustbin which can detect explosive weapons and contain their explosion.

He said: "Surprisingly, this is an area where not a lot of research has been carried out. There are so many technological advancements nowadays that it seems silly to wait until something happens. My concept design uses the same technology as an aircraft luggage hold."

The anti-terrorist dustbin was designed with public buildings, railways stations and shopping centres in mind. Small items of rubbish such as snack wrappers and discarded travel tickets would effectively drop down the sides; anything larger or explosive in nature would be detected and contained using a lever system to deliver the dustbin into a larger bomb-proof container.