Striking the balance between security and civil freedoms is one of our industry’s biggest challenges. But whether the broadsheets are discussing national identity cards or the latest city to get talking CCTV, the fact is: some technology is better at this difficult balancing act than others.
Some technology is designed solely to save lives, which, let’s face it, is what ‘security’ is really all about.
The eyes have it
Imagine being able to check someone’s health just by scanning their eyes. One of the finalists at this year’s Global Security Challenge, Eyemarker, has developed a handheld device that does exactly that.
Although it looks like a ray gun, the American firm’s invention is a non-invasive way of testing the human body for poisons like cyanide, carbon monoxide and arsenic. In the future, Eyemarker hopes the RTD 1000 ocular scanning instrument will be able to scan for diseases like type two diabetes – before the patient feels any symptoms.
For around 100 years scientists have known that tiny changes in the eye can indicate the state of a patient’s health. Until recently, however, it has been a fairly inaccurate science.
Eyemarker saw the potential demand for fast, pre-symptomatic analysis of health on the battlefield and in the aftermath of terrorist attacks and began developing its scanner with an expert team of military and medical advisors.
Freeing up hospitals
Consider the sarin gas attack that rocked Tokyo’s subway system in 1995. The odourless, colourless nerve agent killed 12 people but left thousands frantically worried that they had been exposed to its deadly effects.
Hospitals were subsequently overwhelmed by a mass of people demanding expensive and time-consuming blood tests. Could emergency services have used the RTD 1000 to put people’s mind at ease on the scene, freeing up hospitals for those worst hit?
“Our device is capable of screening both the primary and secondary gases,” said Wes McGee, Eyemarker’s chief executive.
In fact, RTD 1000 can detect carbon monoxide, cyanide and neurotoxin levels 300 to 1400 times below the lethal dose.
The scanner, which could in future be used to detect traumatic brain injury and hypertension, has attracted the attention of the US military. Officers hope it will eventually replace the basic responsiveness tests which ask soldiers “How many fingers am I holding up?”, and trials are currently underway at army theatres in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“In those cases RTD 1000 saves times, saves money and saves lives,” said McGee.
Blast off
The British finalist at this year’s competition, which aims to find the world’s most promising security start-ups, took a very different approach to minimising the risk to life from explosions.
Auxetix Ltd, a spin out from the University of Exeter, has developed a material that can mitigate the force of car bombs, military weapons and even storms. Unlike most materials, so-called helical auxetics get fatter when stretched – making them much better at deflecting extreme forces.
The textile works like this. If you stretch a bungee cord, it gets thinner. But if you wrap a cord around it, and then stretch it, it effectively gets fatter. Combine several of these, and the effect is multiplied – creating a super strong ‘auxetic’ structure.
Dr Patrick Hook, who invented a patented version of the technology, said the lightweight fabric has a wide range of applications, from covering windows in the world’s financial districts – cited by terrorism experts as key targets for extremists – to ballistic mosquito tents for soldiers in the field.
According to the company’s website, “More than 80% of deaths and serious injuries are caused by flying debris. Blast curtains could help to mitigate the number of casualties caused by this during a terrorist strike”.
Car bomb tests
In tests the translucent fabric, called Zetix, survived a blast from a large car bomb just 30m away.
“It’s got the highest possible [explosion protection] ratings we could have hoped for,” Dr Hook said.
Indeed, Auxetix’s product is 10 to 20 times stronger than most materials used to protect buildings and people from explosions.
And, unlike traditional ballistic shields made from materials like Kevlar, the textile can be effective for more than one explosion. These conventional coverings are often made thin to allow light into buildings, but this renders them weak and bombs often blow holes right through them.
Auxetix’s scientists said the response of some security teams is to make thicker, stronger curtains made up of many layers of Kevlar.
“The problem with this is that the curtain is no longer translucent, which negates the purpose of the window in the first place. These thicker ‘blackout’ curtains are usually only deployed in times of heightened security risk, offering no protection at all other times.
“One potential solution would involve the deployment of a smart auxetic fabric made up of thin Kevlar fibres hung in a stretched open cell arrangement that would be translucent, enabling the curtains to be used at all times.”
In the event of an explosion, the weave of the curtain would be triggered to collapse – resulting in a tighter textile that offers a much more effective barrier against glass and other flying debris.
Best of all, the technology is cheap to implement. Auxetix hopes that by using around 1,000 kilos of inexpensive material like polyester as ‘the bungee’ for every one kilo of expensive material (‘the cord’) like Kevlar or titanium used, it will be able to undercut its competitors.
The firm estimates it would cost just $241m to protect the first eight floors of windows in every building across Manhattan’s financial district.
“We’re addressing a global demand for safety for which there is currently no answer,” said Dr Hook.
This is the technology of the future, and even the most ardent libertarians would have trouble knocking it.
