Weapon detection debate may shift spectrum

A recognition system that uses ambient millimeter wave radiation to detect dense objects could disperse most criticisms of current systems.

People entering public buildings may be frisked for weapons without even knowing it.

A new detection system due out in June will use information gleaned from images in the millimeter spectrum to detect weapons, Brijot Imaging Systems announced this week. The system can recognize a weapon on someone's body by processing video taken in the millimeter wave spectrum using ambient light in less than a half second. No active millimeter wave sources are necessary, eliminating the possibility of a technology hazardous to the target's health. Brijot claims to have already taken orders totalling $100 million for the detectors.

The news follows after another article focused on a similar system created by security firm QinetiQ, a company spun off from an agency in Britain's Ministry of Defence.

While the system does see through clothing--and human beings for that matter--it doesn't "disrobe" people like other imaging technologies, the company claimed. Instead it focuses on metal and ceramic objects detected by density. Good for privacy and for security? We'll see.