U.S. Navy to Adopt New Explosives Detection Tech

U.S. Navy to Adopt New Explosives Detection Tech

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7858898_s featureU.S. Navy bomb-disposal experts are asking industry members to submit candidate ground-based multispectral and hyperspectral imaging systems for comparative tests and evaluations scheduled for next summer.

According to Military & Aerospace, officials of the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division in Indian Head, Md., have issued a sources-sought notice for the Ground-Based Hyperspectral Imaging program.

The initiative is surveying industry for multispectral and hyperspectral imaging systems able to detect explosives at standoff distances. These ground-based systems should help experts detect trace and bulk explosive materials at safe distances at checkpoints or with portable handheld systems, Navy researchers say.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

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Hyperspectral imaging sensors look at many spectra of light in closely spaced bandwidths. It differs from infrared thermal imaging, which only looks at one light spectrum, and from multispectral sensors, which look at several different light spectra spaced widely apart.

The big advantage of hyperspectral imaging is in the detail it can provide. An infrared sensor or multispectral sensor for example, might indicate the presence of a target of interest. A hyperspectral sensor though, might indicate not only the presence of a target, but also the kind of metal it’s made from, the color and type of paint it has, or the amount of moisture it contains.

The following video contains a brief overview of Hyperspectral Imaging, this time used for geological research.