DETECTION IS A HEARTBEAT AWAY
A security device developed at the Department of Energy's Y-12 facility
in
Oak Ridge, Tenn., is capable of picking up the sound of a heartbeat,
even
when the person is well hidden inside a large vehicle. The heartbeat
detector can be used to catch terrorists attempting to gain access to
secure
sites, prisoners escaping from jail, illegal immigrants crossing
borders,
and even endangered animals being smuggled into the U.S. The machine
works
using a special algorithm based on vibrational analysis of the
ballistocardiac signal emitted by a beating heart. "We have rolled
people
in bubble wrap, in mattresses, in comforters, put them in tractor
trailers
and in garbage trucks three-quarters full of garbage, and the technology
still works," says an Oak Ridge technical operations manager. The
device is
being tested in maximum security prisons in California and in Tennessee.
(Technology Review Jan 97 p14)