Hi-G-Tek, Trojan Defense work on global nuclear threat early detection

Published 25 March 2009

Hi-G-Tek and Trojan Defense collaborate on developing a global nuclear threat early detection and warning system; the wireless sensor is designed for rapid reporting of WMD in global shipments

Rockville, Maryland-based Hi-G-Tek, a developer of active-RFID sensing and control solutions, has established a Letter of Intent working relationship with Herndon, Virginia-based Trojan Defense, a nuclear electronics research firm currently under contract with DHS’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO). The business agreement calls for Trojan Defense to supply its low power solid-state neutron sensor, currently under development, for integration into Hi-G-Tek’s portfolio of RFID seals, locks, and readers.

This will enable Hi-G-Tek’s customers, including the Department of Defense (DoD), better to manage its international logistics supply chain, but will also add a needed layer of security to global shipments. Monitoring in-transit shipments allows for the early detection and warning of the presence of dangerous nuclear materials, well before screening at the destination port, as well as the tracing of these materials back to the country of origin. This solution thus provides national authorities with the ability to attribute the source of nuclear shipments and, it is hoped, deter those who would ship dangerous unauthorized nuclear materials. Hi-G-Tek says that, together, Hi-G-Tek and Trojan Defense will help improve maritime security through the Practice of Safe Shipping, which is meant to provide distributors with a physical seal and sensor-based barrier designed to indicate the presence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in international shipments.

We are pleased to work with Hi-G-Tek’s premier scientists and engineers to create a global security and defense architecture designed to meet this pressing need,” said Matthew Schor, CEO, Trojan Defense. “The recent maritime attack in Mumbai is but the latest indication that a solution to this global nuclear threat is sorely needed.”

Avi Lichtash, vice president of Product Management & Engineering at Hi-G-Tek, said, “This relationship is truly a marriage of best-in-breed technologies that provide highly effective, pioneering security solutions to protect both global and national interests. Hi-G-Tek’s experience and knowledge of cargo security measures, and Trojan’s unparalleled nuclear electronics detection capabilities, provide the ideal maritime security solution.”

About the two companies

Trojan Defense LLC was founded in 2007 to develop small unobtrusive nuclear sensors for homeland security and defense. The company’s scientists and engineers draw on their experience in microelectronics, satellite communications, logistics, RFID, and defense systems engineering to offer solutions that aim to secure the global commercial transportation system against the nuclear threat.

Hi-G-Tek is the developer of Highly Intelligent RFID asset sense and control solutions for fuel distribution and global trade lanes. The company’s patented “sensing” technology has applications in several key markets, including homeland security, transportation, fuel distribution, military, biomedical, and global trade lanes.