Remote terrorism technology

How can we detect a suicide bomber from a distance? It is not difficult, just check the mark of the " evaporate " explosive on top of his head. It is a new program of the German Government studying this method along with a number of other high-tech terrorist systems.

Horst Krause (Photo: passau)

That material is no different from sand sugar, but only a few grams is it " robbing " a human network like playing. Horst Krause, the researcher, carefully released the crystals into the glass container. He said that there are many people who have been " flying their hands " only with this job. Working at a laboratory near the city of Karlsruhe (southern Germany), the 56-year-old chemical expert knows how to handle the said explosives - triacetonetriperoxide (TATP), which terrorists use in raid 2 London train stations in 2005.

He and his colleagues at four German research facilities combined with the Fraunhofer Institute to study this formidable explosive since the beginning of the year. Among the many positive results collected after the study, the most important was that they measured changes under the action of infrared light, when this light passes through a certain amount of TATP.

The team's goal is to find terrorists who carry TATP in people as far as possible, maybe even ' catch ' them within a 10-meter radius, in crowds or in public places. Infrared light from a discreet place will easily detect gaseous haze (invisible to the naked eye) because the explosive vaporizes over the head of the person carrying it.

Krause declared confidently: ' We can help train stations and airports much safer by discovering this new '.

Annetta Schavan, German Minister for Research and Education, wants to encourage scientists like Krause to continue pursuing such projects. The goal is to help the country avoid terrorism more effectively. She has set up a large-scale research and development program dedicated to home security, and has poured around 80 million euros (102 million USD) for researchers to accelerate the development of high-tech equipment. capable of disabling all other terrorist's plans.

Many of the ideas developed by the ministry's experts both have the quality of science fiction and ensure their assigned tasks: Developing special machines and methods to adapt to public places such as train stations and yards. flying and harbor

Thomas Rachel, representative of the German Ministry of Education and Research, said: 'We need a lot of new innovation ideas, so we have many opportunities to actively prevent massive attacks. future fatherhood, and handle crisis situations more effectively '. The ministry's initiative is expected to boost its practical effectiveness right in a European Security Conference scheduled to be held in March 2007 in Berlin (Germany).

Looking for new ideas

At the invitation of the German Minister for Research and Education Annetta Schavan, a powerful force of related delegates attended the conference in Bonn in early 2006. All are looking forward to finding a useful initiative, and thereby forming the so-called Research and Development Program to prevent and resolve emergency situations, including terrorism. 250 experts from departments - from academia, police, fire, to the military - list the essentials, including robots capable of patrolling trains and submarines.

They agreed that 'it is necessary ' to develop devices that could help detect dangerous substances ' early and far away ', because so far there does not seem to be any sensor technology adapting to the device. suffer from that.

Some preliminary works have been carried out in many other countries, such as the United States with a shoe sole scanner to find explosives. Airports in other countries, such as the Netherlands, have special passenger ports: Passengers who have just stepped through the porch, this gate blows a gust of air all over that person's body. A type of dust collector will recover and analyze the airflow to find explosive immediately.

In fact, this type of inspection takes a lot of time for passengers, if staying at the airport is okay, but in places that go often like train stations is too troublesome. Moreover, when they identify terrorists, they are nearby, it is true that suicide bombers are killed.

Therefore, many scientists including Krause seek to develop an early warning system through detecting dangerous substances in public places. Konradin Weber, Professor of Physics at Dusseldorf University of Technology, spent many years measuring methane above landfills or in the exhaust of ships, through a 100-degree infra-red ray firing device. meter. Now Mr. Weber wants to use similar devices to detect explosives - in the air above the passenger route, such as outside the customs area, or the subway station. Lab tests were successful in the presence of industry experts.

Detect suspicious substances

A CS Hamburg officer (Germany) in his outfit is currently handling suspicious packages.(Photo: CAND)

One of the two long-range detection devices being developed by researchers can also make car parks at major airports safer. The newly developed scanning device will use techniques called micro-laser images to identify explosives on the surface of a car's body or car door handles, enabling possible detection of bombs. car from a distance of 50 meters.

Schavan and her colleagues also want researchers to increase the safety of public-key events by not only solving one but both of the problems: First, identifying terrorists if maybe, and the second is better care for the public in public if necessary.

Anyway, the gap in Germany's system of counter-terrorism measures is still very large, as commented by technical experts. They claim that more advanced X-ray machines need to be installed at ports, which are used to monitor containerized cargo containers, plus ' rotating sensor systems ' that allow fast detection and Accurately traces of explosives or biological toxins.

Only 40,000 of the 5 million containers (or 0.8%) to the Hamburg port annually are X-ray tested. The remaining containers are easily removed from the port. People wonder what will happen if only 1% of the rest transports bombs? Krause, a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute, has been engaged in research on the problem, developing an inexpensive sensor that detects dangerous chemicals since 2004 using a method of pharmaceutical industry. . The device ' smells ' - as its name suggests, costs about 10 euros / unit and has an emergency alarm bell, which can even be installed for containers around the world. Krause believes that with new research funding, his team of scientists will release an improved model within the next two years.

Tran Le Tri (summary)