Innovation Corner: World Travel Edition

Feb 1, 2007 12:00 PM

Tracking Trade

With thousands of cargo containers moving from factory to port each day, it is clear that cargo containers are most vulnerable to security breaches when they are in transit. A new version of the CommerceGuard global container security system from GE Security, Bradenton, Fla., can be a helpful tool.

The system tracks the status and location of cargo using a point-to-point device mounted inside the container. If an unauthorized door opening occurs in transit, the device registers and time-stamps the event. When the container enters a port and moves within range of a fixed or handheld reader, the device signals an alarm across a secure information network and alerts authorities for an inspection. With wireless communications for the system found to exceed 99 percent reliability, breaches are detected with a false positive rate of less than 1 percent. The CommerceGuard system is already protecting cargo for Starbucks Coffee Co., Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. and the Virginia Port Authority. Visit gesecurity.com.

Traveler's Safety Net

To ease corporate travel anxieties, take a look at the updated version of the all-inclusive intelligence database World Watch from ASI Group, Houston. The database's real-time information about countries and major cities is a resource to support travelers, business units and field operations. Features include in-depth risk forecasting and analysis, upgraded digital maps, real-time alerts, detailed and continuous coverage of breaking events, threat-level ratings, country and city profiles, a 365-day security events database and detailed airport information. In addition, the database provides medical information, information about local restrictions, transportation concerns, cultural data and a calendar of significant dates.

The system also presents information about local businesses, demographics and issues of concern for female travelers. Its upgraded digital maps make it easier to locate detailed road systems, facilities, hotels and U.S. Embassies in more than 185 cities. Visit asigroup.com.

Using Radio Waves To Detect Explosives

Scientists in Japan have developed a technique to detect explosives such as TNT in landmines or luggage using radio waves.

Writing in Superconductor Science and Technology journal, they say the technique is superior to conventional methods of detection such as X-rays, and can identify different types of white powder, from flour and salt to drugs and explosives, Reuters reports.

The technique can also identify landmines, an improvement over traditional metal detectors. “Until now it has been very difficult to detect specific explosives such as TNT because they contain atoms of nitrogen that vibrate at very low frequencies,” says Professor Hideo Itozaki at Osaka University, one of the authors of the paper.

The scientists created a so-called superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), which has a sensitive magnetic field sensor to detect nitrogen, an element found in many explosives, including TNT.

“The SQUID chip itself is very small, only in the order of half an inch,” another researcher, He Dongfeng, tells Reuters.

“This will not hinder the equipment from being used in places such as airports as liquid nitrogen is becoming much easier to deal with and is already routinely used in hospitals and laboratories,” Itozaki says.

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