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Thousands of daily passengers on the Los Angeles metro will be safer with the deployment of state-of-the-art technology patented by ESA to detect hidden weapons or explosives. New surveillance cameras from the British company Thruvision – placed at various locations on the LA Metro system – can detect metallic and non-metallic objects on a person's body. They are able to control up to 2000 passengers per hour. Credit: Thruvision
Thousands of daily passengers on the Los Angeles metro will be safer with the deployment of state-of-the-art technology patented by ESA to detect hidden weapons or explosives.
The new control cameras – placed at different locations in the L.A. subway system – can detect metallic and non-metallic objects on a person's body. They are able to control up to 2000 passengers per hour.
The L.A. Metro, which serves Los Angeles County, California, will become the first public transit system in the United States to install screening technology. The machines incorporate technology originally developed by ESA to help understand the galactic evolution.
"We now have the opportunity to obtain early visual warning of improvised explosive devices or weapons intended to cause massive casualties," said Philip Washington, CEO of L.A. Metro, unveiling the system in August.
Presence of absence
Developed by the British company Thruvision, body scanners are non-invasive and passively check individuals for suspicious objects.
They work by detecting the absence of naturally occurring, extremely high frequency, "terahertz" waves emitted by anything hot, including the human body.
Developed by the British company Thruvision, body scanners are non-invasive and passively check individuals for suspicious objects. They work by detecting the absence of extremely high frequency natural terahertz waves emitted by anything hot, including the human body. Terahertz waves can penetrate clothing and thin plastics or ceramics, but not in metallic or liquid water. However, the Thruvision system can also detect plastic guns and ceramic knives. Credit: Thruvision
"When an object is hidden in clothing or attached to a person, these waves are blocked and their absence is detected by the system software," says Stefan Hale, director of Thruvision's operation, near Oxford, UK.
"The technology does not emit any type of radiation and no anatomical detail is displayed."
From space exploration to public transit
The first functioning terahertz camera was developed in the early 2000s by an ESA-led team from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the United Kingdom for future space missions. Several members of the team then launched Thruvision to use the technology for terrestrial uses.
Peter de Maagt, an engineer at ESA, led the original team: "Observing galaxies in the terahertz range can help us better understand how they formed at the beginning of the Universe and how stars formed during the course of history.
"And in environmental monitoring, these frequencies can reveal details about the depletion of the ozone layer and help us understand global climate change."
ESA's Peter de Maagt tests the terahertz imager from Startiger's accelerated development at the Rutherford Appleton laboratory. Later, the technology was patented by ESA by Peter de Maagt and others, and is now available for commercial use by European companies in terrestrial applications. Credit: European Space Agency
Thruvision has acquired rights to the ESA patented terahertz technology to develop a filtering capability for people, and now has more than 300 cameras deployed in 18 countries around the world.
The Thruvision cameras set up in the L.A. Metro will be able to filter people and locate hidden objects at 10 meters, while passengers pass by the system without slowing down their daily movements.
As noted by Philip Washington, CEO of LA Metro, in August: "Our systems allow law enforcement officers and LA Metro security to screen passengers without disrupting pedestrian and to take preventive measures. "
Terahertz technology is part of ESA's intellectual property rights portfolio, consisting of approximately 450 patents based on space innovations, licensed from European companies for space and terrestrial applications.
This portfolio is managed by the Agency's Office of Technology Transfer and Business Incubation, which looks for concrete applications for advanced space technology.
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LA will be the first in the United States to install subway body scanners
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