~Scots oogling USAs homeland security gadgets.
"... the United States has already piloted scanners capable of sweeping large crowds within seconds and detecting suspicious packages and weapons hidden beneath clothing.
They have also tried electronic, hyper-sensitive 'sniffer' devices for airports, capable of sensing minute traces of explosives on travellers' passports and tickets. [search Spitting Image for "ZNose" for more infor on 'sniffers']
"Unobtrusive surveillance and detection are the watchwords involved in these projects.
"The latest generation of scanners can sweep across an airport or station concourse very quickly, picking up anything suspicious*. It is especially useful in tackling the growing threat posed by suicide bombers. However, no technology is 100% perfect, and it is extremely costly: for example, the units tested in the US run into hundred of thousands of pounds per piece."
The new generation of scanners effectively strip subjects bare by employing terahertz radiation, an almost unused range of frequency lying between infra-red and microwave radiation. T-rays can pass through clothing, plastic and paper to reveal hidden objects. Unlike X-rays, they do not harm the body.
Substances, including explosives, also emit terahertz rays naturally, and scientists are working on ways to search for specific T-ray fingerprints.
TeraView, a company based in Cambridge, the National Physical Laboratory and Qinetiq, the defence research company, are among the many groups investigating the possible security applications of this unexploited part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Qinetiq (the defence research company) is... developing cameras linked to sophisticated software that can spot potential terrorists on public transport by detecting unusual behaviour. Trials are being undertaken to test the system, codenamed Praetorian, in America.
complete story [scotsman]
~Have you been scanned today?
*We don't need to be reminded that "anything suspicious" can be most anything? I'm guessing the scanner being described quickly differentiates between living flesh (it glows?; it's temperature?) and inanimate objects like clothing, bombs or weapons next to flesh.
I wonder if the folds of flesh of the morbidly obese cause problems? Anybody notice fat people at airports being puled out of line more often than not?
Posted by Cieciel at August 23, 2005 04:59 AM