Standoff Detection of Human Carried Explosives for Military Force Protection

U.S. military commanders have placed a high priority on protecting U.S. forces from concealed Human Carried Explosives (HCEs) at home and abroad. Required detection ranges extend beyond 100 feet, and required response times for suicide bombers are often less than one minute. Modern hidden weapon detection technologies use portal configurations that require close-in sensing, putting forces at risk. Emerging millimeter wave and x-ray backscatter radar imaging technologies extend detection ranges to tens of feet, but employ large antennas and expensive electronics, and require extended processing times. SET's SBIR Phase I research developed and validated a portable, low-cost system design that extends detection ranges beyond 100 feet, and automatically detects and alerts an operator to HCE threats in seconds. The proposed SBIR Phase II research will yield extensive phenomenology analyses of HCE radar signatures under a wide range of operating conditions, and a field-tested prototype system that employs video and radar sensors to automatically track, interrogate, and classify potential threats.