To bolster its capabilities in millimeter wave technology, Microsemi Corp. [MSCC] in July acquired Brijot Imaging Systems, a developer and supplier of millimeter wave imaging solutions.
While Brijot has some imaging products it sells into select products for various security purposes, Microsemi says the acquisition was about broadening its technology base to further support its customers and the security market. In the millimeter wave area, Microsemi’s largest customer is L-3 Communications [LLL], which makes the ProVision Advanced Imaging Technology body imager sold to the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. military and international customers for security applications.
“I’m looking for what they [L-3] need next and Brijot will help me stay ahead of customer needs,” David Hall, vice president of Microsemi’s RF Integrated Solutions group, tells TR2 at the 2011 ASIS security conference in Orlando, Fla.
Brijot is best known for its Gen-2 passive millimeter wave detection system, which can detect objects hidden beneath a person’s clothing. Unlike L-3’s active millimeter wave ProVision system and OSI Systems [OSIS] Secure 1000 X-Ray-based AIT system, which is also used by TSA, the Gen-2 system doesn’t show the personal bodily detail that upsets some critics of the other two systems. However, the image quality of the Gen-2 isn’t as good as the other two systems.
Brijot has had some success selling into commercial markets for loss-prevention applications but less success in having the technology adopted for security applications.
Earlier this year Brijot, introduced a hand-held millimeter wave-based wand it calls All Clear, which it hopes can meet secondary screening requirements in aviation security and other applications. The idea is the wand, which also doesn’t reveal bodily detail, could be used over an area of a person’s body where an AIT system alarms to quickly discern if there is a threat without subjecting the person to a physical or strip search.
All Clear could also be used in loss prevention applications, Hall says.
Microsemi plans to maintain Brijot’s products, which don’t compete with the company’s customers, Hall says. The Gen-2 and All Clear are “complementary to our customers’ products,” he says.
But the key part of the deal is that Brijot “brings us software and optics expertise for applying millimeter wave technology, which makes us a stronger supplier for components and subsystems,” Hall says.
Hall says the market for imaging products is much larger than just airports. Including other facilities such as court houses and sporting venues and applications such as loss prevention at commercial warehouses, airports account for just 19 percent of that for Microsemi.
Terms of the deal for Brijot were not disclosed. About 15 Brijot employees joined with Microsemi as part of the transaction, including its former chief Mitchel Laskey, who is vice president of Security Solutions for Microsemi.