By Geoff Fein
The ability to detect and deter improvised explosive devices (IED) is leading the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to fund research into advanced camera systems, tools for robots, and standards for protective clothing, according to a top NIJ official.
The NIJ is the research arm of the Department of Justice. It’s focus is on addressing the needs of state, local and tribal criminal justice agencies, which also includes state and local bomb squads and other law enforcement agencies combating the domestic IED threat, Kristina Rose, acting director of the NIJ, told attendees at the Counter-IED symposium in National Harbor, Md., earlier this month.
The event was sponsored by the Interagency Council for Applied Homeland Security Technology.
Through the NIJ’s Office of Science and Technology (OST), the agency is coordinating efforts across state, local and the federal government to combat IEDs, she said.
“Through OST, we are developing new tools and technologies; and developing standards for existing tools and technologies around law enforcement and criminal justice,” Rose added. “[We] also do compliance testing to ensure those tools and technologies are safe and effective.”
She told attendees that in the late 1990s NIJ launched an aggressive effort to find ways to defeat explosive devices.
“We investigated a wide range of potential solutions, radar, infrared (IR) radiation cameras, acoustic devices…and determined that passive millimeter wave (MMW) cameras offered the greatest potential,” Rose said.
Passive MMW cameras do not use an artificial source of MMW radiation, she explained. “It develops images from ambient MMW radiation, which is like IR. It is all around but cannot be seen by the human eye.”
Although both IR and MMW radiation can penetrate clothing to develop images of hidden objects, Rose noted that MMW radiation is more effective.
“An MMW camera can develop an image through a heavy coat, but an IR camera cannot,” she said.
For the last decade, NIJ has leveraged research and development on MMW technology performed by the Defense Department, Rose added. Much of that work has led to the development of commercially available MMW weapon detection cameras based on this initial NIJ investment. And these cameras are being made by a number of companies, she said.
“They represent a 10-fold decrease in size and cost from the initial prototype,” Rose added. “But much more work remains to be done on improving resolution and range, weight and cost.”
One of the approaches NIJ has currently employed is an MMW camera that uses an artificial source of MMW radiation to work, she added.
NIJ has also invested considerable effort in developing new tools for robots, Rose said.
“One of the most important is developing an X-ray system that can be towed behind a robot,” she said. “That system will be able to rapidly take an image of an inside of a panel truck and send that image to a bomb technician who has a laptop and is 100 feet away from the IED. This effort is being jointly funded by NIJ, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) and TSWG (Technical Support Working Group).”
NIJ is also funding development of a tool for robots to cut off bomb vests or belts worn by a potential bomber, Rose said.
“This tool is self-contained, so it can quickly be adapted to multiple kinds of robots. It will cut through cloth, through leather, through artificial fibers, as well as through metal,” she added.
Another issue challenging law enforcement is dealing with the illegal use of cell phones. Rose noted that law enforcement is challenged by smuggling of cell phones into corrections facilities. And there is also the concern of radio-controlled IEDs. Those issues have led NIJ to team with DHS, TSWG, as well as the FBI and ATF to work on solutions.
NIJ is also currently participating in working group led by the DHS Office of Bombing Prevention looking at electronic countermeasures. “Our part of that is developing performance standards,” Rose said.
“The ability to jam cell phones is so inviting, but [we are] looking at alternative solutions to jamming,” she said. “In particular, [we are] looking at funding an effort to develop a low cost mobile device capable of locating cell phones.”
NIJ is currently developing a performance standard for bomb suits that should be published within the next year, Rose said. That standard is being developed in collaboration with the National Bomb Squad Commanders Advisory Board and the Army Soldier Systems Center, as well as DHS.
“The initial version of standard will address the threat posed by bomb blast, fragment and fire,” she said. “Future versions will address protection that bomb suits and ancillary systems can [provide] from CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear).”