Researchers’ tiny sensor big leap in security technology
“You can basically have a metal detector that’s the size of a badge or a gas detector that’s a little larger than the button on your shirt,” said Lee Bzorgi, director of Y-12’s National Security Technology Center.
A metal detector has already been developed and research staff are at work on a sensor they hope will detect about 20 gases that can be part of dangerous chemicals or are radioactive.
The idea of the small device is to give not only Y-12 security workers, but military members and law enforcement officers, new tools that are less bulky than current metal and gas detectors, Bzorgi said.
A prototype of the device, known as a SysChip, is being tested at Y-12 inside a mitt. Security officers use it to examine baggage and workers entering or leaving the nuclear warhead plant.
The chip is small, only about a quarter inch thick, a half inch wide and 2 inches long. The biggest thing about the SysChip is the nine-volt battery that powers it.
“We’re making it a common size to electronics,” Bzorgi said. “The idea is to make it easier for manufacturers to incorporate it into their electronics.”
Bzorgi said the sensors could be a boon for homeland security and the military. The devices could be used just as easily along U.S. borders as in the streets of Iraq.
Department of Defense officials have been briefed about the SysChip and encourage its development, he said.
While the SysChip’s portability makes it valuable, it is also likely to be more cost-effective than larger sensors now in use.
“I’ve got to admit there are a lot better sensors already on the market, but you might end up spending $400,000, and you’d have to have a pickup (truck) to carry them around,” Bzorgi said. “You get to a point where you say, how much better than good do I need to be?”
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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com