What we do

A decade of funded, fielded work

Seven funded projects with the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and the Home Office, and the markets where this kind of sensing actually gets used.

Track record

A timeline of funded projects with the MOD and the UK Home Office.

Dec 2016UK Home Office

Gun detection in parcels

Proof of concept for sub-wavelength radio frequency imaging.

Feb 2017DSTL · ACC101772

Shoe scanner for explosives

Detection of an explosive proxy concealed in shoes.

Dec 2017DSTL · ACC102732

Novel near field scanning system

Enhanced RF imaging using a unique antenna configuration.

Apr 2018DSTL · ACC103435

RF thermal acoustic scanner

Development of a hybrid RF thermal acoustic imaging system.

Nov 2018DSTL · ACC2001015

Low frequency near field scanner

Demonstration of an ELF (under 1 kHz) imaging system with centimetre resolution.

Sep 2019DSTL · ACC2006358

Wide band full vector

Demonstration of a frequency-agile RF sensing system.

Sep 2020DSTL · ACC6014289

Drone-mounted RF probe

Riverbed profiling and ground bearing capacity measurement from a drone-mounted probe.

Markets and applications

Where this kind of sensing gets used.

Security

Body scanners at major airports are expensive enough to justify only at the highest-value, highest-traffic pinch points, which leaves smaller airports and other public spaces effectively unscreened. Low-cost, portable, human-safe screening closes that gap rather than trying to shrink an existing scanner.

Military

Bases built or moved at short notice in a conflict zone still need to screen local personnel entering under a hearts-and-minds posture, without the cost of a millimetre-wave scanner. The same sensing measures ground bearing capacity for roads and bridges remotely, in place of the usual hazardous manual steel-rod test.

Customs and border control

Human-safe RF screening can sit at a passport check without adding a separate step, or scan through the sides of a soft-bodied lorry or the inside of a tyre wall, unaffected by rain, to identify concealed contraband.

Medical

RF fields at these levels are intrinsically human-safe and penetrate tissue readily. A low-cost first-layer triage tool built on that, sitting in a GP surgery or a first responder's kit, could spot a major trauma before the patient reaches hospital. It isn't aiming for MRI or CT resolution, just a faster first read.

Civil engineering

Ageing concrete infrastructure needs monitoring without the disruption and penalty costs of shutting a road to inspect it. Underwater and marine structures are even less served: RF propagates through roughly a metre of water, opening up drone or diver-free surveying where divers are currently the only option.

Engagement

See the working demonstrations behind the track record.

The projects above and the applications they sit in are backed by two working instruments you can try yourself, one for RF and one for infrared. Both are on this site, driven by the same physics as the fieldwork.

See the RF demonstration