Because of the potential presence of 'suicide bombers' in large groups and the real risk of high casualties, their detection, isolation, and neutralization is a critical necessity. Ordinary passive observation techniques such as IR, Visual, and Biological are extremely limited in range and are prone to high false alarm rates. We propose an active millimeter sensor to detect objects and materials unique to the bomber with sufficient discrimination to minimize false alarms which does not require complex shape detection and characteristics of materials algorithms. An active radar can penetrate bombersÂ’ clothing at long range (~300Â’), to expose explosives and associated wiring and will permit the implementation of criteria for the identification of the bomber in a group environment. Analysis is presented which suggests the viability of this technique. And measurements from our initial experimentation have determined that signals from the illumination of a threatening individual by the narrow beam Radar are significantly greater than signals from the illumination of the same individual without a "homicide vest". This relatively inexpensive system is based on the utilization of commercial millimeter wave, 77 GHz, automotive collision warning radar hardware and technology whose safety has been approved as well as other COTS components.
Benefits: There is a need for new systems and methods for rapidly evaluating the threat potential of an individual amongst other individuals at a relatively long distance. It is desirable that at least some systems or methods be capable of being implemented without the need for complex signal processing thereby reducing implementation costs relative to many of the known systems. It is also desirable that the methods and/or apparatus provide an integrated, threat-driven solution to the threat detection problem.
Keywords: Concealed, Weapon, Explosive, Detection, Suicide, Bomber, Stand-off
