Cubic Completes Transit Security Pilot Test in Canada
Cubic Corp.’s [CUB] Cubic Security Systems business has completed a Canadian government pilot to evaluate radiological and explosives detection technologies for public transit security. Cubic said in January that it was selected to participate in the pilot, which began in June and concluded in July (HSR, Jan. 18). Testing occurred at the Churchill light-rail station in Edmonton and involved the used of the CLEAR-USE radiological and explosives detection system develop by Cubic and prime contractor Mobile Detect, Inc. (MDI), of Ontario, Canada. Cubic said the Canadian government is analyzing the pilot results and is expected to complete a final evaluation report within three months. MDI provide the standoff RadWatch gamma radiological sensors for the test, which were integrated by Cubic Security Systems into the existing Edmonton ticket vending machines supplied by Cubic Transportation Systems. Cubic also integrated the radiological sensors and its Explosives Detection Validator into the MDI central command security software backend system, which can send alerts to security or law enforcement personnel via high-speed wired and wireless networks. A molecularly imprinted polymer film manufactured by Raptor Detection Technologies is a core part of the Explosive Detection Validator. “By the time you take your ticket and put it into the Validator, you will see within less than five seconds that this machine not only can analyze that ticket for trace particle detection but it can also send any type of alert, communication, messaging to a back-end security systems,” says Walt Bonneau, president of Cubic Security Systems. Cubic is doing additional explosives testing of its system in San Diego with Canadian experts as part of the pilot project. Cubic says the pilot test has drawn attention from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Textron Introducing Upgraded Version of Big Data Analytics Tool
Textron [TXT] this week will introduce an upgraded version of its IMPACT information analysis software that is being used by local law enforcement agencies to help them sort through data to create actionable information about criminal activity. With IMPACT 2.0, Textron has created a more extensible software that is useful to smaller customers as well as larger ones such as Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI, John Percy, vice president of Textron Systems Advanced Systems Overwatch business, tells HSR. The IMPACT technology is based on software analytic tools the company has developed for the Army the past 15 years and that are also in use by the intelligence community, including the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization. Following the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which are asymmetric conflicts as opposed to force on force, the company was able to use the software to help sift through large amounts of data from various sources to find patterns of activity related to finding terrorist threats. From that Textron realized it could use the technology and apply it to finding criminal and gang threats for law enforcement purposes, Percy says. The data can come from sources as different as license plates, criminal reports, photos of tattoos, and others to aid law enforcement both to help prevent crime and to respond to crime, he says. Textron says its semi-automated IMPACT tool is also cost effective.
Smiths Detection High-Speed Checked Baggage Scanner Receives ECAC Approval
Smiths Detection’s new HI SCAN 10080 XCT high-speed checked baggage explosive detection system (EDS) has received European Civil Aviation Conference Standard 3 approval, which will be mandatory for EDS systems in Europe beginning in Sept. 2014. The 10080 XCT was co-developed with Smith’s partner Analogic [ALOG], which develops the core automated explosives detection technology used in L-3 Communications’ [LLL] EDS systems sold internationally and to the Transportation Security Administration. The 10080 XCT is the first Smiths Detection EDS system to receive Standard 3 approval, joining L-3, Safran Group’s Morpho Detection, Nuctech, OSI Systems [OSIS] and Science Applications International Corp. [SAI] with approved EDS products. The 10080 XCT is capable of screening up to 1,800 bags per hour.