GE Global Research, the technology development arm for the General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), today announced it has been awarded $4.2 million from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop an integrated imaging system that combines state-of-the-art video surveillance technology with breakthrough radiation detection capabilities. This new system would provide law enforcement and security personnel with a new tool to protect people from radiological and nuclear threats in a variety of commonly trafficked public settings such as:

Government buildings, plazas and other common public areas:

Subway terminals

Bridges and tunnels

Airport checkpoints

Sports stadiums

GE’s integrated imaging system will address a pressing need to detect radioactive materials in moving targets, such as a vehicle passing through a tunnel or a person walking through a subway terminal. GE’s system, which builds from its successful Intelligent Personal Radiation Locator program for DHS, will use a high-resolution gamma-ray detector, with specialized detection capability, to determine the direction of detected radiation. At the same time, the system will employ an intelligent, state-of-the art video surveillance system to track the location of targets. For more information and a sample video illustrating GE’s intelligent video technologies, visit Global Research’s technology blog, From Edison’s Desk, at www.grcblog.com.

The combined system will be capable of detecting and tracking moving sources of radiation, and differentiating threats from benign sources such as naturally occurring background radiation and medical isotopes. Multiple detectors and video cameras will feed data to a centralized computer base station, for data processing and analysis, situational awareness monitoring and reporting.

“GE’s Target-Linked Radiation Imaging system will provide a substantial new capability in the rad-nuke market by detecting and identifying radioactive materials in motion, with unprecedented sensitivity,” said Brian Yanoff, GE Global Research’s Principal Investigator on the project. “Law enforcement and military personnel will have an innovative new tool to thwart domestic nuclear threats in a variety of different public settings before they can cause harm.”

“In addition to enabling a more vigilant response to potentially dangerous threats, this technology also enhances the flow of traffic through checkpoints, border crossings and other places where vehicles and people are scanned or checked,” Yanoff added.

GE researchers will work in conjunction with the DHS’ Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) on the $4.2 million project. The project is scheduled to last 2 years, and involves a cross disciplinary team of engineers and scientists from across GE Global Research.

The integrated system that GE researchers are developing will benefit GE Security’s Homeland Protection business, which is planning to add radiation detection to its broad portfolio of security products. The business now offers products for the detection and identification of explosives, narcotics, chemicals and biological threats.

“The combination of state-of-the-art video surveillance technology with cutting-edge radiation detection will help law enforcement officials better protect communities around the world,” said Dennis Cooke, president and CEO, GE Security’s Homeland Protection business. “This is yet another great example of GE’s commitment to providing more and better advanced technology solutions to help our customers address real world security challenges.”