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T-RAY SCAN: The camera (circled) can detect hidden objects without revealing body details. -- PHOTO: IMAGES.TECHTREE.COM
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LONDON - A BRITISH company has developed a camera that can detect weapons, drugs or explosives hidden under people's clothes from up to 25m away in what could be a breakthrough for the security industry.
The T5000 camera, created by a company called ThruVision, uses what it calls 'passive imaging technology' to identify objects by the natural electromagnetic rays - known as terahertz or T-rays - that they emit.
The high-powered camera can detect hidden objects from up to 25m away and is effective even when people are moving.
It does not reveal physical body details and the screening is harmless, the company says.
The technology, which has military and civilian applications and could be used in crowded airports, shopping malls or sporting events, is due to be unveiled at a scientific development exhibition sponsored by Britain's Home Office later this week.
'Acts of terrorism have shaken the world in recent years and security precautions have been tightened globally,' said Mr Clive Beattie, the chief executive of ThruVision.
'The ability to see both metallic and non-metallic items on people out to 25m is certainly a key capability that will enhance any comprehensive security system.'
The portable camera has already been sold to the Dubai Mercantile Exchange and Canary Wharf in London, BBC reported.
Unlike current security systems that use X-rays, the ThruVision system exploits terahertz rays. This electromagnetic radiation is a form of low-level energy emitted by all people and objects.
These are able to pass through clothing, paper, ceramics and wood but are blocked by metal and water.
The system works by collecting these waves and processing them to form an image which can reveal concealed objects, according to BBC.
'If I were to look at you in terahertz you would appear to glow like a light bulb and different objects glow less brightly or more brightly,' said the firm's spokesman.
'You see a silhouette of the form but you don't see surface anatomical effects.'
But while the technology may enhance detection, it may also increase concerns that Britain is becoming a surveillance society, with hundreds of thousands of closedcircuit television cameras already monitoring people countrywide every day.
ThruVision came up with the technology for the T5000 in collaboration with the European Space Agency and from studying research by astronomers into dying stars.
REUTERS
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