Sensor technologies for security

The sensor technology theme is helping to pioneer new sensor devices, technology and sensor systems to support the 21st century IT revolution and Industry 4.0.

Key researchers

Information has become a vital commodity driving modern society and the IT revolution is fundamentality dependant on a myriad of different sensor devices and systems to provide this information from sensors inside mobile devices to vehicles to homes and factories. New sensor technologies are at the heart of innovation in all fields, creating opportunity by providing data previously not available and driving social and scientific advances.

Research into new sensor systems and their applications is inherent to activities across the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering linking many of the Department's themes and clusters. The breadth and scale of the Department allows research from new nano-scale sensors to their applications to macro scale applications in major production processes. The research is supported by numerous industrial partnerships reflecting the diversity of the subject. The Sensor Technologies for Security theme focuses on applying electromagnetic inspection techniques to range of applications related to security.

In addition, researchers working in this area:

are part of the internationally leading Research Centre for Non-Destructive Testing;
helped to found the International Society for Industrial Process Tomography (ISIPT);
used their work on landmine detection and body scanners;
helped Earth scientists locate the lost meteorites of the Antarctic.

Further research activity

Humanitarian demining

Supported by the charity, Find a Better Way we are researching a new generation of detector technology for humanitarian demining, specifically to address the problem of distinguishing real threats from metal clutter.

Non-destructive evaluation

In partnership with the internationally leading Research Centre for Non Destructive Evaluation (RCNDE), Tata Steel and Primetals Technologies, we work to improve the state of the art of electromagnetic NDE especially for in-line processing of materials.

Security

Developing new sensing solution to ensure airports, sensitive buildings and public spaces are safe using electromagnetic techniques over a very wide bandwidths from kHz for discriminating metallic targets to microwaves for dielectric objects.