• TASC wins three task orders from DNDO

    TASC, Inc. was awarded three task orders by DHS to provide its Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) with advanced systems engineering and integration and other decision-support services. The task orders are valued at a total of $54 million, including base and option years

  • TSA looking for device to replace pat-downs

    DHS is soliciting ideas from technology companies for a hand-held scanner which may be used instead of pat-down searches on passengers who set off alarms as they go through a full-body scanner

  • K-9 units from across the U.S. helped secure NATO Summit in Chicago

    ATF K-9 teams from Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Texas helped secure the NATO Summit in Chicago this past weekend; on explosives-sniffing dog named Ithaca was also on duty; the dog is famous for his keen sense of smell that enables him to detect approximately 19,000 explosive odor combinations

  • Detecting biological terror agents

    PositiveID Corporation is testing its M-BAND bioagent detection system in preparation for DHS’s $3 billion BioWatch procurement; M-BAND can be remotely set to detect for DNA-based pathogens alone, with or without either RNA-based organisms or toxins, or for all three types of pathogens simultaneously at remotely programmable intervals

  • Nanostructured sensor detects very low concentrations of explosive

    The male silk moths has a highly sensitive sense organ which it uses to recognize pheromone molecules excreted by females as these molecules land on male’s antennae; scientists now use the male silk moth approach in explosives detection

  • Collaborative effort in developing ionizing radiation, neutron detector

    Trojan Defense and Silvaco the other day announced their collaboration in the development of the Trojan Defense Carnyx ionizing radiation and neutron detector

  • New patent foreshadows future of trace detection technology

    Implant Sciences Corporation has been issued a patent that covers a method for a hyphenated trace detection employing a combination of ion mobility spectrometry, differential mobility spectrometry, and mass spectrometry

  • U.K. certifies Morpho Detection’s Itemiser DX for air cargo screening

    The U.K. Department for Transport has certified the Itemiser DX desktop explosives trace detection (ETD) system from Morpho Detection for air cargo screening at U.K. airports

  • New biosensor checks for toxicity in real time

    Researchers have married biology and engineering to develop a biosensor – called Dip Chip – that can warn of toxicity in real time; one of the chip’s advantages is its ability to identify toxicity as a biological quality instead of specific toxic chemicals; because the chip measures general toxicity, it will pick up on any and all toxic materials — even those that have not been discovered or invented yet

  • Canadian airports deploy desktop explosives trace detection systems

    The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) acquired sixty-three desktop explosives trace detection (ETD) systems to be deployed to airports in Canada to support passenger and baggage screening efforts

  • Using LED technology for UV disinfection

    UV light can be used to disinfect, treat drinking-water, sterilize surgical tools, and more; technologies that use aluminum nitride LEDs to create UV light, however, have been severely limited because the substrates which served as the foundation for these semiconductors absorbed wavelengths of UV light which are crucial to applications in sterilization and water treatment technologies; researchers have developed a solution to the problem

  • Optical sensor specialist to develop explosive sensing technology

    Polestar Technologies, a developer of optical sensors, has recently won a $2.5 million government contract from the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Deterrent Organization (JIEDDO) to develop a system for the stand-off detection of explosives hidden on a person

  • New explosives detection based on micro- and nano-cantilever beam sensors

    A team of engineers is investigating micro- and nano-cantilever beam sensors for explosives detection; micro- and nano-cantilever beam sensors offer a distinct advantage in that they are small, very responsive, and very sensitive; their sensitivity and selectivity can also be tuned by modifying the surface treatment

  • Mass spectrometry for detection of trace quantities of explosives

    The detection of trace quantities of explosives is critical to defending civilian populations from terrorist attacks; researchers have developed a method of modifying a commercial electrospray ionization source for ambient detection of explosives on surfaces

  • Detecting a North Korea nuclear test

    The monitoring tools that scientists have available to them to detect a nuclear test have improved in quality and quantity since North Korea last tested a nuclear weapon in 2009; the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) has a total of 287 detection facilities available, consisting of 157 seismic monitoring stations, forty-five infrasound stations, sixty-five radionuclide stations, and ten hydroacoustic stations