Strip Search: Camera That Sees Through Clothes From 80 Feet Away

leobold1 · 03-10-2008, 02:28

FOXNews.com - Strip Search: Camera That Sees Through Clothes From 80 Feet Away - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

Sunday, March 09, 2008

LONDON — A camera that can see through people’s clothing at distances of up to 80 feet has been developed to help detect weapons, drugs and explosives.

The camera could be deployed in railway stations, shopping centres and other public spaces.

Although it can see objects under clothes, its designers say the images do not show anatomical details. However, it is likely to increase fears that Britain has become a surveillance society.

The new technology, known as the T5000 system, has attracted interest from police forces, train companies and airport operators as well as government agencies.

It has been developed by ThruVision, an Oxfordshire-based company spun out from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, one of the government’s leading physics research centres.

It was designed for use in spacecraft and astronomy but researchers soon realised that cameras capable of seeing through clouds of cosmic dust could also see through clothing. This week the camera will be displayed at the Home Office scientific development branch’s annual exhibition, Britain’s premier showcase for security equipment, to be held on an RAF airbase in Buckinghamshire.

ThruVision already offers a smaller system designed for office foyers that can scan through clothing at a range of 30 to 40 feet.

This has been used at the Canary Wharf complex in east London, which is home to several global banks and is regarded as a target for terrorists. The Dubai Mercantile Exchange has a similar installation.

The system can be linked to a computer so that it can automatically scan anyone passing and alert its human operator to anything suspicious. Clive Beattie, ThruVision’s chief executive, said: “Acts of terrorism have shaken the world in recent years and security precautions have been tightened globally. The T5000 dramatically extends the range over which we can scan people.”

Bill Foster, the president of Thermal Matrix, an American defence contractor specialising in imaging systems for the US military, is one customer. He said: “This could be deployed at major sporting events, concerts and rail stations as well as for military use.”

The technology works by detecting and measuring terahertz waves, or T-waves for short. These are a form of electromagnetic radiation, emitted by all people and objects that lie between the infrared and microwave parts of the spectrum.

The waves from any given material also carry a distinctive signature, offering the potential to distinguish Semtex from modelling clay and cocaine from sugar.

Evol_J · 03-10-2008, 05:26

All I have to say is 1984

redtanker · 03-10-2008, 08:23

Excellent post thank you. I just saw this on TV this morning

Woodmonkey · 03-10-2008, 10:57

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

conlor · 03-10-2008, 21:10

It's too bad things have come to this. We have to choose between safety and privacy.

Chrisj · 03-11-2008, 05:55

I think it could be a fantastic piece of kit if properly used, if the technology becomes cheap enough it could be used to protect children from the increasing tendency of their peers to carry knives and even guns to school. Shopping centres, cinemas and bus stations could have some degree of coverage, this however would still depend on police officers being available to search and arrest the subjects if necessary. There will probably be some test case with the human rights lawyers saying its an infringement of criminals rights to go about their business.

Is the device portable enough to carried in a vehicle if so patrols could move at random around town centres in the areas where gun and knife crime has become a problem. I don't think its quite the same as CCTV which relies on its deterrent effect rather than any actual fear that the police will see the event on the CCTV and then rush to intervene.

Evol_J · 03-13-2008, 02:47

The whole privacy issues comes into play there though, hell if I am going to the movies and I have 3 rent-a-cops rush me because I have a concealed weapons permit and with them not knowing that a trigger happy donut dipping moron is going to be in for a bad day. In some ways it is much harm as it is good.