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Technology Quantum Magnetics engineers work on a discreet weapons detector that could make our schools safer



Quantum Magnetics Developing A Discreet Weapons Detector

In the wake of the two recent shootings on school campuses, a local company is developing a discreet weapons detector that could make neighborhood schools, corporations and public buildings safer.

Engineers at Quantum Magnetics, Inc., a Miramar-area defense contractor, are working to convert military technology into a highly accurate weapons sensor that can be placed near the entrance of public or private buildings with security concerns.

Called Silent Sentry, the portable device would be markedly less obvious than the archway metal detectors found at airports and courthouses. According to company literature, it would be able to detect a small, .22-caliber pistol that passes within 2 feet of it, or a large pistol within 6 feet.

So far only a prototype unit exists. Company President and CEO Lowell Burnett said he wants to bring Silent Sentry to market within a year.

Burnett prefers the term “weapons detector” to metal detector.

Though the device under development indeed detects metal, he said it only detects hardened metals, like steel, which work best in guns and knives.

It ignores softer metals like brass, aluminum and copper, Burnett said. Those are the things that make up keys, coins and belt buckles , the things, he noted, that create false alarms at airport and courthouse checkpoints.

Even firearms made largely out of plastic contain hardened metals, Burnett said.

The Silent Sentry uses a technology called magnetic tensor gradiometry. It detects the way the hardened metal interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field.

The technology is passive and does not violate legal restrictions on searches, says company literature.

The device would send real-time information to a guard, who would view it on a screen or hear a warning through an earpiece. The exact user interface has yet to be developed, Burnett said.

Promotional materials for the Silent Sentry show a portable unit in a 4-foot-high case with a foot-wide footprint. They also indicate the Silent Sentry can be hidden, either housed in part of a building or disguised as a decorative column.

A portable unit could work on battery power and weigh less than 30 pounds.

Quantum Magnetics engineers have worked to bring the costs of the units down, Burnett said.

The company in 1992 delivered a unit using similar technology to the Navy. Burnett said it cost “well over $1 million.” A couple years ago the company brought the sensor components of the unit down to the $60,000 range.

Efforts to adapt the technology to the commercial sector have brought the unit cost to less than $500, he said.

The $500 price tag applies to the sensor alone, Burnett said. A full unit would include multiple sensors, other electronics and a personal computer.

The project is based on work Quantum Magnetics has done for the Department of Defense and National Institute of Justice.

Quantum Magnetics , a wholly owned subsidiary of Newark, Calif.-based InVision Technologies, Inc. , is pursuing multiple patents on the technology, Burnett said.

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