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Mobile scanner could detect guns

Published: June 10, 2009

British scientists have developed a portable microwave scanner to help police identify individuals carrying concealed guns and knives.
It is small enough to be used covertly, at some distance from the subject.
The device is based around microwave radar technology and is designed to pick up the “reflections” of weapons concealed beneath clothing.
Some officials believe technology like this could help increase the effectiveness of stop-and-search.
The existing prototype is suitable for the detection of guns, but researchers say subsequent versions of the technology will be able to identify concealed knives as well.
The new device employs low-power microwaves to identify weapons, using similar wavelengths as the body scanners currently in use at a number of airports.
This device could save lives and free up valuable policing time Catherine Coates, EPSRC
However, Professor Nick Bowring from Manchester Metropolitan University, who led the development of the new device, said it worked on a different principle.
Unlike airport scanners, the portable machine does not produce an image of the subject, it only analyses signals.
“It is designed to work out on the streets and is not (restricted) to a closed, controlled environment,” Professor Bowring told BBC News.
A human operator will transport the device, using it to direct microwave emission at a person of interest.

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