Synthetik Applied Technologies has received $200,000 from the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate to develop a proof of concept for an artificial intelligence-based object recognition capability for the Transportation Security Administration. The Texas-based start-up company proposes using ream-time voxel-wise instance segmentation to detect objects during property screening at airports. The award is the first under S&T’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) Other Transaction Solicitation Object Recognition and Adaptive Algorithms for Airport Passenger Property Screening.

…Transmute Industries, Inc.

, which is also based in Texas, nabbed $199,642 from S&T to use blockchain technology in a proof-of-concept application for Customs and Border Protection to support increased transparency, automation and security in processing the importation of raw materials such as steel, timber and diamonds raw goods entering the U.S. Under the Phase I award, Transmute will adapt its technology to “construct a secure, digital, chain-of-custody mechanism for raw material imports,” says Anil John, that leverages centralize and decentralized identity infrastructures to secure individual agency identities and verifiable credentials to ensure CBP has SVIP Technical Director.

…Mavennet Systems, Inc., received a $182,700 award from S&T to adapt its oil and gas industry blockchain security technology for CBP to track cross-border oil imports between the U.S. and Canada. “Mavennet’s platform could provide this digital auditability while ensuring broad interoperability by supporting emerging World Wide Web Consortium standards such as decentralize identifiers and verifiable credentials,” says John.

The anti-drone market in North America will reach $1.94 billion by 2026 estimates the marketing research firm Research and Markets, representing a compound annual growth rate of more than 25 percent. The anti-drone technology, also called counter unmanned aircraft system technology, includes systems for detecting, tracking, and or mitigating UAS.

…In Europe the counter-UAS market reached $96.1 million in 2018, making it the third largest regional market in the world, says Research and Markets. The markets include defense, government and commercial.

The Department of Homeland Security Office of Biometric Identity Management plans to host a new competition next year for the next phase of its advanced biometrics platform, called the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) system that is currently being developed by Northrop Grumman. The company is expected to deliver the first increment of HART next spring, which will coincide with the initial operating capability of the system that stores and matches fingerprints, face and iris images for its customers, which are primarily DHS components. OBIM plans to issue a Request for Proposals in January for the Mission Systems Lifecycle Support (MSLS) portion of HART and award a contract in June. Under the MSLS procurement, additional biometric modalities will be incorporated into HART as will a slew of other capabilities and features. HART is replacing the aging and costly IDENT system, which currently stores more than 259 unique identities.