• New sensor system protects ports, bridges, and distribution centers

    Sensor networks are an efficient, cost-effective way to monitor critical infrastructure facilities, distributions centers, and more; trouble is, to work effectively you need a very large number of them, and they all have to work collaboratively; a Dutch university researcher offers a better way of achieving this

  • GE sells its Homeland Protection business to Safran for $580 million

    Following 9/11, GE acquired Ion Track (2002) for an undisclosed sum and InVision Technologies for $900 million (2004); the Homeland Protection unit had revenue of $260 million last year, which GE saw as disappointing; CEO of French company Safran: We want to become “a pivotal player in the security market”

  • New detection devices from Smiths Detection

    Smiths Detection shows three new devices for quicker and more reliable detection of biological and chemical agents; soldiers and first responders will also appreciate the light weight and the ability to operate the gear with only one hand

  • Light refraction used to detect explosives or toxins, and identify infections

    The transmission of light can be affected by the suspension of metal particles in a clear medium; researchers are now exploiting this property to construct nanosensors that could be used to detect explosives or toxins, or identify infections

  • Colin Cummings named new ICx technologies CEO

    Cummings will succeed Hans Kobler, who will continue as chairman; Kobler will go after opportunities the company sees from increased government spending; company’s detection unit suffered from delays in DHS business in the fourth quarter

  • DHS seeks nuclear detection research

    DHS is looking to award $3 million this summer for nuclear detection technology exploratory research that could lead to a dramatic improvement in the U.S. nuclear detection capabilities

  • New ricin detection test developed

    As little as one-half milligram of ricin is lethal to humans; no antidote is available; two teams of researchers in New York and Georgia develop a test that can accurately detect and quantify the presence of ricin

  • CSIRO to lead effort to standardize sensor network information sharing

    Sensors, and sensor networks, are the wave of the future (the wave is already here, in fact) in allowing remote monitoring of everything from machinery to buildings’ temperature to perimeter fences to water quality to patients’ health and much, much more; Aussie research organization now leads the effort to develop standards for sharing information collected by sensors and sensor networks over the Internet

  • Metallic nanostructures make security and medical sensors possible

    New sensors could be tailor-made instantly to detect the presence of particular molecules, for example poisons or explosives in transport screening situations, or proteins in patients’ blood samples, with high sensitivity

  • AS&E sells its first gantry security scanner to Pentagon

    AS&E’s proprietary Z Backscatter technology is popular with customers, and the company announces yet another contract, this time with the Pentagon — but: complaint from scanning rival Rapiscan lead the U.S. government to half an earlier order for AS&E’s ZBV Military Trailers, from 68 units to 34 units

  • Rapiscan wins U.K. contract for its mobile cargo scanner

    The company says the Eagle Mobile 4500 can scan shipping containers and trucks in less than twenty minutes while also being capable of penetrating dense cargo at increased inspection rates without impeding the flow of commerce; Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs wants several of these scanners deployed at U.K. ports of entry

  • NYPD wants to expand anti-terror program to midtown

    NYPD wants to duplicate in midtown the measures under way near Ground Zero; these measures will allow allow police to do everything they do downtown — scan license plates, monitor surveillance video cameras, and use radiation and bioterrorism detectors — between 34th and 59th streets, from river to river

  • FLIR: stimulus makes company an even more attractive investment

    FLIR’s thermal technology is used in both defense and energy conservation applications; the stimulus package-related large investments in energy efficiency and continued robust defense and homeland security budgets combine to make the company an attractive target for investors

  • Soldiers' helmets serve as sniper location system

    Commodore researchers develop a networked helmet that help soldiers and first responders fighting in a hazardous urban environment pin-point and display the location of enemy shooters in three dimensions and accurately identify the caliber and type of weapons they are firing

  • New device locates people in danger

    University of Pittsburgh researchers develop a tracking device that can pinpoint within a few feet the locations of people inside burning buildings or other structures where there is an emergency