Numerica Introduces 3D Radar for Counter-Drone, Short-Range Defense
Numerica has introduced the Spyglass short-range surveillance radar, a three-dimensional radar solution for counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) and other short-range defense missions. “Spyglass was born out of our first-hand experience with gaps in the short-range radar market,” says Nate Knight, vice president of air and missile defense at Numerica. “The rapidly growing autonomous drone threat presented an opportunity to turn our attention to building a new radar from the ground up that would leverage our decades of experience solving critical air and missile defense problems and applying our proven radar processing and tracking technologies in new ways.” The company says that Spyglass, which uses Ku-band phase array technology, can detect and track small drones beyond 3.5-kilometers with precise measurements to support various mitigation techniques. Liteye Systems
will be the exclusive distributor of Spyglass for Numerica.
CBP Adds Simplified Arrival to Pedestrian Crossing in Calexico
Customs and Border Protection has implemented its facial biometric comparison technology at the pedestrian border crossing in Calexico, Calif. The Simplified Arrival program uses facial biometrics to automate the manual document checks that are currently required for entry into the U.S. The Calexico West Port of Entry is the fourth busiest port of entry in the U.S., processing nearly 2.5 million travelers in fiscal year 2020 and 3.7 million in FY ’19. Calexico East processes nearly 300,000 travelers in FY ’20 and more than 330,000 in FY ’19. CBP says the facial comparison technology is more than 98 percent accurate. Foreign travelers who have previously entered the U.S. will no longer need to provide fingerprints as their identity will be confirmed through the facial comparison technology. So far, the facial biometrics technology has been used to prevent more than 400 impostors from illegally entering the U.S. using authentic travel documents that were issued to other people.
DroneShield C-UAS Technology Will Be Evaluated in S&T Air Domain Awareness Evaluation
Australia’s DroneShield Ltd. says it has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate for the company’s counter-drone solutions to be evaluated. S&T tells HSR that the evaluations will be part of its Air Domain Awareness initiative beginning this April on the U.S. northern border for protection of national air space. S&T has entered into 15 CRADAs with different vendors to evaluate systems under the Air Domain Awareness program. DroneShield says its DroneSentry and DroneSentry-C2 solutions will be evaluated in fixed and semi-fixed site applications. DroneSentry integrates multiple sensors including radio frequency, radar, electro-optic and infrared cameras, and acoustic for layered detection, classification, identification and tracking of unmanned aircraft systems. DroneSentry-C2 is a security management platform that provide a common operating picture for the Counter-UAS mission. The evaluations will begin in North Dakota and will encompass a series of testing events.
TSA Adds Smiths Detection Scanner Qualified Section of Air Cargo Screening List
Smiths Detection says its HI-SCAN 145180-2is pro dual-view air cargo scanner has been added to the “qualified” section of the Transportation Security Administration’s Air Cargo Screening Technology List (ACSTL). The ACSTL is TSA’s official guide for regulated parties to use when procuring screening devices and related trace consumables in accordance with the agency’s security programs.
DHS S&T Publishes Information on Protection Against GPS Spoofing
The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate has published the Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Integrity Library and Epsilon Algorithm Suite to protect against Global Navigation Satellite System spooring, or deceiving a GPS device through false signals. The library and suite provide users with a method to verify the integrity of the received GPS data. “Since GPS signals can be jammed or spoofed, critical infrastructure systems should not be designed with the assumption that GPS data will always be available or will always be accurate,” says Jim Platt, chief of Strategic Defense Initiatives at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency National Risk Management Center. “Application of these tool will provide increased security against GPS disruptions.” For more information about the DHS S&T PNT Program: https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/pnt-program.
InVeris Training Introduces Virtual Reality Law Enforcement Trainer
InVeris Training Solutions has introduced a new virtual training solution called the VR-DT (Virtual Reality Decisions and Tactics) and also says that California’s Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) is the launch customer. The system includes wireless, high-definition headset with 360-degree fields of view and weapons tracking to enable fully immersive training environments. InVeris says officers can train for a traffic stop or intervene in a domestic altercation from two perspectives and a customized laptop allows the instructor to influence scenarios, environments and weapons. “Two officers training in a tactical scenario will benefit from their own viewpoints and spatial orientation, while still being testing on their verbal and physical actions,” says Eric Perez, director of Virtual Systems Sales for InVeris. InVeris is delivering 50 systems initially for $2.6 million and the contract includes an option for up to $5 million in additional systems.
Cubic Partners in Europe to Develop Public Safety and Tactical Broadband Solutions
Cubic [CUB] says its Mission and Performance Solutions business has signed an agreement with mission-critical communications software company Alea for the joint development of public safety and tactical broadband solutions. Cubic says that solutions developed with Italy-based Alea will leverage the 3rd Generation Partnership Project standardization body’s Mission-Critical Push-to-Talk (MCPTT) specifications for mission-critical communications over LTE. “Support for MCPTT is a crucial product milestone for Cubic’s radio gateway products,” says Mike Barthlow, senior vice president and general manager of Mission Communications and Computing at Cubic. “This exciting new partnership further enables us to provide standards-based critical communications solutions to our first responder, disaster relief and defense customers.”