(Credit:
QinetiQ)
The Transportation Security Administration has purchased a dozen cameras that use millimeter wave technology and sophisticated algorithms to screen crowds of rapidly moving travelers for weapons from up to 20 meters away.
The SPO threat detection system made by QinetiQ measures waves "naturally emitted by the human body," exposing "cold" objects such as metal, plastic, or ceramics concealed under clothing. A red light on the system's display alerts the operator if you're packing, so there's no need to rely on interpreting images on a screen. It also means no one is ogling your naked body, which was one of the objections when similar technology was deployed at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport last October.
(Credit:
TSA)
This imaging technology is safe; the "passive" millimeter wave system generates no emissions itself, but creates an image from reflected body energy, according to the company. Still, if you're nostalgic for the vintage, step-through experience, you can always try this personal fold-up portable metal detector by CI Tech.
Radio scientists at IBM Research and MediaTek are teaming up to develop a wireless transmission protocol that will deliver files more than 100 times faster than Wi-Fi.
A prototype millimeter wave chip
(Credit: IBM)The idea is to take advantage of the 60GHz spectrum, according to Mehmet Soyuer, the lead researcher on the project, who is based in IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. These chips will be able to transfer files at around 2.5 gigabits per second, compared with the 11 to 54 megabits of Wi-Fi. Hence the 100 times faster calculation, Soyuer said.
Put another way, these chips could transfer a 10 gigabyte file wirelessly in five seconds or so, something that would take several minutes on a Wi-Fi network.
The 60GHz spectrum is part of the millimeter wave spectrum, which runs from 30GHz to 300GHz. SiBeam, which is the driving force behind the WirelessHD consortium, has been showing off 60GHz chips in TVs and will make a big push for them at CES. Other companies are also coming out with high-end wireless video and audio chips.
IBM brings the radio expertise to the project while MediaTek will work on the digital signal processing.
IBM and MediaTek want to have something out in three years.
(Credit:
Brijot Imaging Systems)
A new imaging system promises to pinpoint the location of a weapon concealed on a person without using a metal detector, a pat-down or the slightest dose of radiation, all thanks to some heavenly technology.
The BIS-WDS Prime combines "millimeter wave sensor" technology, video cameras and algorithm software to detect "objects made of metal, plastic, ceramic and composite hidden beneath a subject's clothing" from up to 45 feet away, according to manufacturer Brijot Imaging Systems. The subject doesn't have to stand still or even know he's being scanned.
The technology, which is used mostly in radio telescopes and high-speed microwave links, works by contrasting the millimeter wave "signature" of the human body, which is hot and reflective, against that of the gun, knife or bomb. Those objects appear cold and dark because of their molecular structure.
The system can be installed in a typical metal detector-style portal or deployed covertly, a feature that helps prevent malefactors from casing and circumventing a facility's security measures. And speaking of hot and not-so-hot bodies, privacy advocates are concerned because this technology would allow airport screeners to see travelers without clothing.
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