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International collaboration enhances INL's concealed weapons detector

INL National and Homeland Security Communications Program Liaison Ethan Huffman demonstrates the detector.

International collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory, scientists from the former Soviet Union and General Electric has led to the development of new magnetic sensors that will enhance the capabilities of the INL-developed concealed weapons detector. INL showcased the concealed weapons detector during a media event on April 11 in Idaho Falls.

INL Project Manager Trudy Overlin briefs reporters about the techology's capabilities.

The detector uses 16 passive magnetic sensors to replicate the Earth's ambient magnetic field. As contraband items pass through the field, they are rapidly detected and their location is pinpointed on a computer monitor. This immediate identification makes it easier for security guards to search an individual and identify and remove dangerous items. The detector can precisely locate items ranging from razor blades to handguns.

With the new, more powerful sensors developed in Russia, the detector can be installed in a double-door configuration and used to scan multiple people simultaneously. INL and the former Soviet Union are also working to develop sensors capable of detecting nonmetallic weapons and liquids. The first-generation concealed weapons detector has been installed nationwide in courthouses, federal buildings and high schools. It is marketed and sold by Maryland-based View Systems, Inc.

The partnership that led to the development of the more powerful sensors is part of the DOE's Global Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention (GIPP) program which provides the opportunity for foreign Cold War-era weapons scientists to use their science background and knowledge to work on important peaceful, nonmilitary projects.

Since 1992, the GIPP program has sponsored the development and licensing of many technologies, including advanced cancer detection devices, ultrafine bacteria and virus filters, and new treatments for epilepsy.

One of the magnetic sensors.