Handheld Anomaly Recognition Tool (HART)

Check point screening is key to mitigating threats in aviation transport as well as in missions protecting critical infrastructure, high-value cultural institutions, and persons, in a variety of missions from civilian security to law enforcement and corrections to military.These missions are made more challenging by the range of threats presents, from metallic weapons to liquid-based explosives.It is also challenged by the need for rapid and cost-effective screening, while maintaining privacy.There is a capability gap in existing detector offerings between hand-held metal detectors, offering portable cost-effective detection of metallic threats only, and fixed Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) systems, which require large and expensive fixed installations.In order to fill this gap, Spectral Labs proposes to develop and test a compact, hand-held device which functions across a wide range of threats including explosives, which are missed by a simple metal detector wand.The device will benefit multiple missions, from supplementing fixed AIT installations, resolving alarms without the need for a pat-down, to primary screening for pop-up itinerant screening locations, catching more threats than current portable offerings.This development would leverage SLI's experience developing its Multi-Function Wand (MFW) passive millimeter wave (mmW) hand-held device, while providing improved detection rates through discrimination of anomalies from threats concealed on the body.This approach relies upon the same physical phenomena used to provide Automated Threat Recognition in currently-fielded mmW-based AITs, but without the large antenna arrays and large range of motion required in the AIT portals.