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Bat inspires space tech for airport security

13 October 2005

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Security scanning based on space technology

The Tadar system uses millimetre-waves to detect and identify suspicious objects hidden under clothing. It is named after the Brazilian Tadarida bat as it uses waves to detect and identify objects hidden under clothing in the same way that the bat uses high-frequency signals to navigate and locate insect prey in the dark.

Credits: Farran Technologies

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The Brazilian Tadarida bat has given name to the new security scanner Tadar built by Farran Technology. Tadar can ‘see’ all its objects, not just metallic items, by the use of millimetre-waves to detect and identify suspicious objects hidden under clothing or to see through cloud and fog, in the same way that the Tadarida bat uses high-frequency signals to navigate and locate insect prey in the dark. The Tadar system is based on advanced microwave technology that Farran has developed for space systems.

Credits: (c) Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org

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The Irish company Farran Technology supplies ESA with high-frequency microwave components and subsystems. Since 1998, the improved materials used for integrated circuits have permitted the production of integrated circuit devices able to operate within the millimetre-wave spectrum - the 30-300 GHz range of the frequency spectrum - used for a broad range of applications from advanced astronomy to broadband radio communications. This technology has now been used to build the improved security scanner Tadar.

Credits: Farran Technologies

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The Irish company Farran Technology has developed a new security imaging system that can ‘see’ all concealed objects on a person, not just metallic objects by the use of a millimetre-wave camera. The technology originates from microwave and millimetre-wave systems supplied to ESA. The Tadar system can work in passive and active mode. In passive mode the person to be screened must stand in front of the system, while in active mode the system can produce three-dimensional images of a scene, even at a distance of over 50 metres.

Credits: Farran Technologies

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Farran Technology has developed a new security scanner to be used for example in airports based upon the expertise from producing microwave and millimetre-wave systems for ESA projects.

Credits: Farran Technologies

More information

Tadar mm-wave imaging system Brazilian Free-tailed Bat