Security Innovators Take Center Stage

Feb 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By PAUL ROTHMAN

They include X-ray technology designed to detect explosives, a dishwasher-sized mail decontaminator, and a virtual reality headset that allows someone to remotely operate a robot. They are the finalists in the first Defend America Challenge event aimed at bringing cutting-edge technologies to the Homeland security market.

The Chesapeake Innovation Center (CIC), headquartered in Annapolis, Md., America's “first business accelerator for Homeland and national security,” recently hosted the finalists for the competition, designed to help small technology companies find a place for their innovations in the often murky Homeland security marketplace.

“As a small technology company, it is a very difficult proposition to deal with the federal government,” says Dolan Falconer, president and CEO of ScanTech Holdings, Atlanta. “You have to do everything you can to elevate your profile.”

The CIC received 50 applications for the challenge, ranging from three-page outlines to 80-page volumes. Six were invited for the finals — a 10-minute presentation and a two-minute Q&A in front of a crowd of more than 160 in January at the Loews Annapolis Hotel in Maryland. The competition was open to any company offering a product or service specializing in the Homeland or national security field.

ScanTech's cargo and baggage screening device was selected as the winner of the challenge — and a $50,000 award. “It was a unique format,” Falconer says. “It had a monetary prize and it was a reality-based, real-time competition. The high visibility of the competition has allowed us to shine bright enough for the Department of Homeland Security to notice.”

The ScanTech system uses dual energy X-rays to effectively inspect large cargo containers for threats such as high Z number isotopes, explosives, drugs and other contraband by both imaging and measuring their physical properties. The dual energy X-ray beams peak at different energies, thus enabling its systems to differentiate materials within the container.

“X-rays are traditionally used to image contents, but that process is not effective for material threats that have no form or shape,” Falconer explains. “The technology uses the X-rays to discriminate different materials. The dual energy X-ray measures how matter reacts to the beams, thus allowing (the system) to measure what that material is.”

Among the other finalists was Sensics Inc., for its virtual reality headset technology. The futuristic-looking device — called piSight — is mounted on a user's head, and is suitable for applications such as virtual prototyping, training and data mining. The user sees a panoramic view in high-resolution. Earlier incarnations of virtual reality technology forced users to use “tunnel vision,” with a narrow field of view. Lack of peripheral vision was considered an obvious but unavoidable limitation.

“It really covers your entire visual field,” says Yuval Boger, Sensics' CEO. “Therefore, the experience is very compelling.”

Virtual prototyping involves creating 3D models of products (cars, airplanes, buildings, machines) and using the device to explore them virtually. Flight, vehicle training and heavy construction machinery simulators are key applications, and a human operator using the device can remotely operate machinery in biohazard, defense, medical or space environments — all without requiring physical access to a remote site.

Developed after nearly a decade of research sponsored by NASA and a major car manufacturer, piSight uses a patented optical design to combine images from several microdisplays into a panoramic, 3D visual experience. Sensics was awarded a second $50,000 prize for the best invention by a Maryland-based company.

A panel of eight judges, which included venture capitalists and officials from both private and public organizations, judged the contestants on criteria including business viability, market size and presentations.

“It has generated a lot of buzz and interest,” Falconer says of the competition. “It is a very good format to raise the profile of these technologies. These companies deserve a hard look from the government.”

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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