MAY 29--InVision Technologies Inc. (Newark, CA, USA;www.invision-tech.com) has made a strategic equity investment in SafeView Inc. (Menlo Park, CA, USA: www.safe-view.com). The investment will be used in part to commercialize an advanced portal system that uses millimeter-wave holographic technology to screen passengers for weapons, explosives, and contraband material, including ceramic, plastic, and non-metallic weapons. InVision was the sole strategic investor in a financing led by the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (Redwood City, CA, USA). InVision will be the exclusive distributor of SafeView's portal systems in commercial aviation and airport markets in North America and Europe.
"Current passenger checkpoint security technology is only capable of identifying metallic weapons and is inadequate for addressing today's threats. We believe SafeView's multi-threat imaging portal will significantly improve detection at screening checkpoints," says Sergio Magistri, InVision president and chief executive officer. "We anticipate that authorities will begin to upgrade passenger checkpoints to next-generation technology so that every person and item boarding an airliner is screened as effectively as checked baggage is today."
The SafeView portal system transmits ultra-high frequency, extremely low-power waves as a person passes through a checkpoint portal. The millimeter waves penetrate clothing and reflect off a person's skin and the items he or she may be carrying. An array of sensors captures the reflected waves, which are processed and analyzed in real time, to produce a high-resolution, three-dimensional (3-D) image from the signals. An operator then uses software-based threat-detection algorithms to screen the image for suspicious materials.
SafeView holds an exclusive license to commercialize this patented technology from Battelle (Columbus, OH, USA;www.battelle.org), which manages the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the United States Department of Energy. The system has it roots in a three-dimensional holographic imagery technology program that was established at PNNL and funded by the Federal Aviation Administration as a key emerging technology for airport passenger screening.
