Radar System Detects Concealed Threats Up to 20 Meters Away

Researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University in England have developed scanners that find concealed weapons in real-time using radar waves and advanced computer programs. The technology is designed to rapidly scan individuals in a crowd as they pass through areas such as public spaces, gates, or entrances and instantly alert officials as soon as a threat is detected. The machines work at a distance of up to 20 meters using low-power millimeter-wave radar signals that reflect off a weapon and back to the scanner, without compromising privacy or health. Unlike airport scanners, the device does not produce an image of the subject but only analyzes radar signals reflected from the person.

Transcript

00:00:15 we've created a device or radar system if you like which is uh designed to scan people at the distance typically 20 MERS 10 m for a small variant for threat items and non-threat items the the system is able to discriminate between the two quite effectively so for example if you're carrying a a mobile phone it'll pick that up but classify it as a non-threat item if you're carrying a

00:00:43 handgun or PB that's a person born improvised explosive device it will alarm strongly on those at an appropriate part on the scan as a scan is done over the body this is a prototype of the uh radar scanning unit it sends a beam of microwaves out towards the person there are two receivers there which look at the return signal the information is relayed to a

00:01:07 computer in the device and the user sees on the screen exactly which part of the person is being screened or scanned at the time it's able to scan a person very quickly at a significant distance for example 20 M which is useful for uh Railway stations airports underground scenarios it will quickly detect PB IDs or handguns on people at that distance and and alarm The False Alarm rates the

00:01:36 false detection ratees is very very low with this device the power that's used and the power that goes towards a person is is thousands of times lower than a mobile phone so it's completely harmless these devices will essentially detect most carried items on the body but it is Able by analyzing uh the returns to discriminate between say mobile phones keys all the range of non-threat items

00:02:02 and something that could be harmful such as particularly handguns and PBS so it has that ability built into the software on the device the user doesn't have to make any decisions on the classification of these objects and all the user sees is a visual image of the person a circle outlining where the beam is is is sweeping at the time and an analysis of the threat whether it's

00:02:29 threat uh harmless no threat carried at all the operator sees purely a visual image from a camera the microwaves do go through clothing and scan for uh any of these items there are no privacy issues in that regard at all the user sees through the camera what they will see through their eyes this has proven technology that's been through a whole series of Trials the effectivess of the

00:02:55 technique is not in doubt these are prototypes these two devices which have been uh built in our mechanical Workshops the next step for this device is to turn into an attractive and effective commercial product we have commercial interests now within these devices it with the job of the industrial partner to uh reproduce them and re-engineer them more effectively to

00:03:19 be suitable for everyday use in the field or wherever an application arises e