• Improving land mine detection equipment

    While simple versions of electromagnetic induction sensors are capable of detecting most land mines, advanced sensors are required to tell the difference between a land mine and harmless buried metal objects

  • Drinking water monitored by CSIRO-developed sensor network

    Lake Wivenhoe, which spans an area about the size of the city of Brisbane, supplies water to 1.5 million residents in south-east Queensland; CSIRO deploys its FLECK smart wireless sensor network technology to monitor water quality

  • DHS 2010 budget increases by 6 percent

    Proposed $43 billion 2010 DHS budget emphasizes border and transportation security, de-emphasizes a national network of sensors to detect dirty bombs

  • Mechanical stress leads to self-sensing in solid polymers

    Fighting Illini researchers develop force-sensitive polymers; when pushed or pulled with a certain force, specific chemical reactions are triggered in the mechanophores; such polymers may be used in aircraft components or bridges to report damage and warn of potential component failure, slow the spread of damage to extend a material’s lifetime, or even repair damage in early stages to avoid catastrophic failure

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  • 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

  • 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

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  • 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

  • New RFID technology tracks nuclear materials

    Argonne National Lab’s researchers develop RFID-based method to monitor the environmental and physical conditions of containers of nuclear materials in storage and transportation

  • Flow sensors based on hair structures of blind cavefish

    Members of the fish species Astyanax fasciatus cannot see, but they sense their environment and the movement of water around them with gel-covered hairs that extend from their bodies; Yellow Jackets researchers develop sensors which mimic the blind fish’s sensors; these sensors could have a variety of underwater applications, such as port security, surveillance, early tsunami detection, autonomous oil rig inspection, autonomous underwater vehicle navigation, and marine research

  • Tiny sensors form robust intruder detection system

    Tel Aviv University researcher develops tiny sensors — each the size of dew drop; the sensors can be programmed to monitor sounds, metals, temperature changes, carbon monoxide emissions, vibrations, or light

  • New method for detecting explosives

    American and Danish researchers discover method to detect explosives based on physical properties of vapors

  • Smiths Detection shows active mm-wave detection system

    Passive mm-wave detection systems pick up the mm-wave heat energy emitted by the body, which is used as a background reference point; active systems transmit mm-wave into the detection area to boost the level of energy overall, give a better return and a more detailed image

  • NIST's electromagnetic Phantom standardizes metal detector tests

    An electromagnetic phantom — a carbon and polymer mixture that simulates the human body — is being readied by NIST as a standardized performance test for walk-through metal detectors such as those used at airports

  • T-Ray Science licenses MIT's terahertz technology

    There is a growing interest in the detection capabilities of terahertz technology, and a Canadian company licenses an NIT-developed detection system that can be used to detect a continuous-wave (cw) THz signal