Science Applications International Corp. has made its first sale of a low-resolution, low-cost scanning device that lets inspectors spot stolen cars and other contraband inside locked shipping containers.
The instrument uses gamma rays to give a container a non-invasive inspection while it is being trucked through a seaport facility.
Under a $1.4 million deal, five devices will go to the Florida ports of Miami and Jacksonville. It is the first sale of the devices, said Jim Winso, general manager of SAIC’s Safety and Security Instruments Operation.
The San Diego-based company last week was also finalizing a deal to sell two more units to the port in Fort Lauderdale, Winso said.
SAIC markets the new unit under the acronym STARS, for Stolen Automobile Recovery System. It is an evolution of its Vehicle and Cargo Inspection Systems, called VACIS, developed in the mid-1990s.
The U.S. Customs Service uses two VACIS systems in Otay Mesa and another in Calexico, Winso said. VACIS systems are also in use in several Southern ports, he said, adding that roughly 25 systems are in use altogether.
Winso said customer input influenced the design of the new STARS system going to Florida.
During a trade show a few years ago, he recalled, an SAIC exhibit of VACIS machines attracted a Florida police lieutenant who deals with stolen cars. The officer said the devices were expensive for local needs. Then again, he said, officials did not need the sort of high-resolution picture the machines produced.
Using those guidelines, SAIC engineers set to work on a new design. What they came up with was a device that produces a lower resolution picture and, according to company literature, costs 25 percent of its VACIS counterparts.
The new system was designed and is manufactured in San Diego. It uses a Cesium-137 gamma-ray source, which company literature describes as small, and a detector tower located on pedestals to make a scan of a container’s interior.
The STARS system was tested at the Port of Miami in 1998 to inspect sealed cargo containers. During the test’s first week, Winso said, the device turned up several stolen vehicles, including a backhoe.
Winso also said Los Angeles port officials have expressed interest in the new STARS device.
