Expand Your Reach
Volume 22 April 2018 Edition
The far perimeter of a venue is an ideal place to screen for weapons of mass casualty .
Most of the time , a terrorist is trying to get closer to the immediate perimeter of the venue , to inflict the most damage to large groups of people waiting to get in ; farther away , event attendees are walking toward the entrance and thus are more dispersed , not standing in clusters or lines .
This advance screening is possible using ferromagnetic detection systems ( FMDS ).
In the most basic terms , FMDS uses passive sensors that evaluate disturbances in the earth ’ s magnetic field made by something magnetic moving through its detection zone .
Everything else is invisible to it ; it doesn ’ t see people , clothing , backpacks , purses , etc .
Nothing can be used to shield the threat , because FMDS doesn ’ t detect metallic mass ; it detects a magnetic signature , down to a millionth of the earth ’ s magnetic field .
It is also highly accurate – there is no false alarm rate , because it is programmed to find only what security personnel need to find ( e . g ., a weapon ).
Although it is a passive technology , it is more effective and reliable than using observational security methods to screen a perimeter , because the technology will never miss something the way a human would .
DEPLOYED WITHIN CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE Proscreen 900 is easily integrated within current facility considerations , requiring no added infrastructure changes or costly construction modifications .
An important point is that the system only works on moving objects .
This makes it immune to environmental conflicts such as rebar that would trip up conventional metal detectors , and allowing people to be screened quickly and unobtrusively without stopping to divest their possessions as they walk toward a venue – up to 50 or 60 people a minute .
FMDS does not need people to be organized into lines or groups ; it simply detects a magnetic signature on anything that passes .
It runs on batteries – there is no need for an electricity source , as with a walk-through detector – and can be placed on just about any form factor ( a pole , a stand , etc .).
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