Friday March 18, 2005
Sci-Fi surveillance technology comes one step closer to reality
In the 1990 action movie Total Recall, passengers on an underground rail system are shown passing through a system that can detect hidden threats such as weapons.
British defence firm Qinetiq have developed millimetre-wave radar that can see through clothing and detect non-metallic weapons such as ceramic knives, as well as drugs and other contraband that airport metal detectors can't spot.
This technology has already been tested at airports and is being evaluated by Eurotunnel -- operators of the undersea tunnel connecting England and France -- as a way of detecting illegal immigrants hidden in vehicles.
Researchers at the firm are also working on a way of sensing human pheromones in sweat, based on the idea that a potential terrorist would literally exude the smell of fear.