Security and protection

Port, airport and border security

We have tested most scanning equipment in UK airports to assess its effectiveness against real threats, and we play an active role in testing and developing new equipment.

Our work provides our customers with independent, objective evaluations of the many types of weapon and explosive detectors. Commercially available detection systems are tested for applications including building search, prison and airport security.

We work closely with our customers to ensure equipment meets their needs and to develop test standards and methods.

Stowaway detection

We are working with the UK Immigration Service (UKIS) to identify illegal migrants concealed in road-freight vehicles. We are helping UKIS assess the capability of existing devices and find new devices, and to identify and develop applicable technologies.

With over 800,000 vehicles passing through Calais each year, it is important that the technique be quick, effective and easily operated. The techniques that may be used to detect stowaways include:

• Passive imaging - A hot object will radiate in the infra-red. The intensity and peak wavelength of this radiation depends on the temperature of the object. Stowaways may be detected because they may be at a different temperature than their surroundings. 
• Active imaging - The vehicle can be irradiated with ionising or non-ionising radiation, which interacts differently with human tissue and non-human objects. 
• Scent - Stowaways will - by breathing, sweating, and other bodily excretions - change the gas balance in a vehicle in which they are concealed. Detectors include: mass spectrometers,  gas chromatography, animals, carbon dioxide and oxygen probes.
• Motion - Through voluntary and involuntary motion, stowaways cause a vehicle to vibrate and this is detected with seismic sensors. This simple method is surprisingly effective, and is currently the Immigration Service's preferred detection method. The motion of the stowaway,for example breathing or pulse, may be detected directly using radar.