The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is continuing testing of smartphone-sized nuclear material detectors with an eye toward deployment in 2018.
The agency’s 2-year-old SIGMA program aims to develop more effective, less expensive devices for detecting even minute amounts of nuclear and radiological materials that might be used in a terrorist attack against the United States.
DARPA this year spent a month testing more than 100 networked detectors at a sizable transportation hub operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, according to an Aug. 23 press release. The technology “provided more than a 100-fold increase in ability to locate and identify sources of radiation as compared to currently installed systems,” the release says.
The devices cost one-tenth as much as standard sensors but offer 10 times the speed in detection of gamma and neutron radiation, according to DARPA. The agency said it met its price target of 10,000 of the detectors for $400 each.
The SIGMA devices have been tested in over 10 “real-world” deployments and drills in the last two years, the agency said. An exercise involving more than 1,000 devices is planned in Washington, D.C., before the end of 2016.
Further demonstrations at the city and regional levels are planned for 2017, followed by deployment to local, state, and federal organizations in 2018. Ultimately, the networked devices are intended to be folded into a larger web of detection systems on large roadways, bridges, and additional infrastructure, along with vehicles.
