Detecting explosives and weapons in real time among large crowds of people may soon become a reality thanks to an innovative new detection system developed by NATO scientists.
Synopsis
NATO scientists are developing technology that aims to detect explosives and firearms in public places, remotely and in real time, without disrupting the flow of pedestrians. The DEXTER (Detection of EXplosives and firearms to counter TERrorism) Programme, as it’s known, is a flagship initiative of the NATO Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme. It works by integrating into one prototype the technological solutions developed by three NATO SPS research and development projects: a MIC (Microwave Imaging Curtain), EXTRAS (EXplosives TRAce detection Sensor) and INSTEAD (INtegrated Systems for ThrEAts early Detection). The information provided by these three systems can then be processed and sent in real time to security agencies.
If successful, the DEXTER system could be operational in metro stations, train stations and airports.
The footage includes a simulated sequence of an actor playing a terrorist plus clips from trials of the DEXTER system taking place at a metro station in Rome and interviews with members of the DEXTER development team.
Transcript
---SHOTLIST—
(00:00) VARIOUS SHOTS - AN ACTOR SIMULATES PREPARING FOR A TERRORIST ATTACK
(00:16) VARIOUS SHOTS – AN ACTOR PLAYING A TERRORIST WALKS THROUGH A METRO STATION IN ROME
(00:47) A POLICEMAN WEARING MODIFIED GOOGLE GLASSES SCANS A CROWD
(01:13) VARIOUS SHOTS – POLICE APPREHEND AN ACTOR PLAYING A TERRORIST IN A METRO STATION
(01:42) VARIOUS SHOTS – GENERAL VIEWS OF A METRO STATION IN ROME
(02:00) VARIOUS SHOTS – VOLUNTEERS HIDE WEAPONS UNDER THEIR CLOTHING DURING DETECTION TRIALS
(02:11) VARIOUS SHOTS – VOLUNTEERS WALKING PAST SENSORS
(02:42) VARIOUS SHOTS – DEXTER SENSORS SCANNING VOLUNTEERS AND DISPLAYING CONCEALED WEAPONS
(03:22) VARIOUS SHOTS – DEXTER TEAM MEMBERS WORKING AT COMPUTERS
(03:37) POLICE WEARING MODIFIED GOOGLE GLASSES SCAN A CROWD
(03:49) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – DR. HENRI BOUMA, SENIOR SCIENTIST, TNO (NETHERLANDS ORGANISATION FOR APPLIED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH)
“Traditionally, there would be a trade-off between either high security with heavy inspections, which are time-consuming, or a convenient travel for passengers. But with the DEXTER system, you go beyond. It will be possible to guarantee high security with remote inspections without hindering the continuous flow of passengers.”
(04:14) SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH – DR. HENRI BOUMA, SENIOR SCIENTIST, TNO (NETHERLANDS ORGANISATION FOR APPLIED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH)
So it's very important to detect explosives or weapons to prevent terrorist attacks. And the system is able to detect it and share the information with a police officer.
The police officer may wear smart glasses. And if there is no weapon or explosive detected, nothing is presented on the smart glasses. But if a weapon or explosive is detected, then the information is shown on the smart glasses and the police officer sees a picture of the individual that was close to the sensor. So the police officer is able to follow up and catch the suspect while he's still in the neighbourhood.
(04:55) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – DR. HENRI BOUMA, SENIOR SCIENTIST, TNO (NETHERLANDS ORGANISATION FOR APPLIED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH)
Currently, we are in Rome in one of the subway stations, and we are testing the complete DEXTER system. And there are volunteers participating in this experiment and they can carry a weapon, they can carry traces of explosives. And this allows us to test each component in the DEXTER system and we can assess the quality of the system. And what we've seen up till now is that the system is performing very well.
(05:23) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – DR. HENRI BOUMA, SENIOR SCIENTIST, TNO (NETHERLANDS ORGANISATION FOR APPLIED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH)
What I'm really proud of is that we set up a system in a very modular way, and it's able to train itself in such a way that it makes it very flexible to be also installed at other locations. And the training strategy is such a way installed that we reach very high performance.
(05:55) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – DR. HENRI BOUMA, SENIOR SCIENTIST, TNO (NETHERLANDS ORGANISATION FOR APPLIED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH)
“So one of the good things of the DEXTER programme is that NATO allows us to work together with multiple people in the consortium. So there are experts coming in from multiple countries and working together. Experts on the field of radar, experts on the field of laser and optics, experts on the field of video processing. And together we can build the DEXTER system.”
(06:09) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) DR. LUIGI DE DOMINICIS, DIAGNOSTICS AND METROLOGY UNIT, ENEA (NATIONAL AGENCY FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES, ENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ITALY)
“DEXTER is a project funded by the Science for Peace and Security Programme. For us, for all the institution involved in the project, it has been a very big opportunity to work with NATO because NATO was the glue of the whole institution, was a point of reference for us when it was the moment to have the feedback from someone that works daily with a terrorist attack, with the threats in the public spaces. So there has been a mutual collaboration, a steady exchange of knowledge between us and them.”
(06:48) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – DR. DENIZ BETEN, SENIOR SPS AND PARTNERSHIP COOPERATION ADVISOR, NATO SCIENCE FOR PEACE AND SECURITY PROGRAMME
“This project is an integration of three research projects but also a system which has algorithms and integrating all the detection coming from the different sensors and coming up with alarms. And we are measuring today the false alarm rates and how successful the detection will be in different scenarios which are picked up from actually real-time situations, unfortunate terrorist attacks which happened in the past. And we will be able to come up with a data evaluation in the next coming months and this prototype then can be upscaled and become a real possible commercial product to be used in metros, airports and other mass transit environments.”
(07:37) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – DR. DENIZ BETEL, SENIOR SPS PARTNERSHIP ADVISOR, NATO SCIENCE FOR PEACE AND SECURITY PROGRAMME
“All the different rules and legislations, which are decided by the European Union and other international organisations, have been respected, including the privacy rule. So all this is integrated into our Con0ps, which is our operational standard operation procedures. So we are proud to say that we have covered all these different privacy issues and safety, especially for eye safety for laser.”
(08:05) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – DR. DENIZ BETEL, SENIOR SPS PARTNERSHIP ADVISOR, NATO SCIENCE FOR PEACE AND SECURITY PROGRAMME
“I would like to also show and demonstrate through this Science for Peace and Security project to the public at large that NATO does care about public safety and security. And we try to build peace among scientists by bringing them together to work on specific projects like this to make the world more safe.”
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