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NECN: Scvngr tours explore cities, campuses by cell phone
A newly launched Northeastern University homeland security research center is developing a radar system small enough to fit into a van that could help detect a suicide bomber from half a football field away.
Northeastern launched its Homeland Security Center of Excellence for Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats (ALERT), a joint venture with the University of Rhode Island, at the end of October. Northeastern is conducting long-term research on creating new sensing devices, while URI works on chemical characterization and blast mitigation, according to ALERT’s director, Michael Silevitch.
The schools are splitting a four-year, $2 million-per-year U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant. An additional $1.6 million has been granted by the John Adams Innovation Institute, earmarked for collaboration with local companies such as American Science and Engineering Inc. and Raytheon Co., Silevitch said.
Defense Technology Initiative director Don Quenneville, whose organization promotes defense sector growth in Massachusetts, visited the Northeastern center in November, and came away impressed with the center’s involvement with industry, which could smooth the path for later commercialization.
“That way you don’t get involved and find out you can’t get there from here,” Quenneville said.
Silevitch called ALERT a natural extension of Northeastern’s Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems, already working on finding hidden things — tumors, underground pollution, or a crack in a road.
“How about a bomb in a suitcase, a suicide vest underneath the clothing?” Silevitch said.
Northeastern electrical and computer engineering professor Carey Rappaport is developing a radar system that could detect bombs hidden under a person’s clothing. Separating what is dangerous from what isn’t can be challenging, given the simplicity of some explosive materials.
“If a car’s been to Home Depot, and it has some plumbing supplies and some fertilizer, it can look an awful lot like a bomb,” he said.
Rappaport said he wants to zero in on pipes strapped to someone’e chest. Airports already do this well at close range, said Rappaport, who once got stopped at airport security with a mayonnaise packet wrapped in aluminum foil.
Finding a bomb at a distance is harder. A person with a pipe and one without will both reflect microwaves. But the pipe will scatter the microwaves faster, like the difference between light passing through clear glass versus frosted glass. The system would ultimately be detecting a man-made material under clothing, and allow security personnel to initiate contact at a safe distance.
“The real issue is saying, ‘All right, this one here we have to watch out for,’” he said.
Rappaport estimated a prototype could be ready in about three years, and a licensable product within about five years. His goal is an easily operated, cost-effective device.
“You need a really powerful explosive to cause damage more from than 50 yards away,” he said.
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