Jon Paschal

A Wireless Electronic Monitoring System for Securing Milk from Farm to Processor

The department of homeland security and the department of health and human services have targeted bulk food contamination as a focus for attention. Milk transport falls into three of the 17 targeted national infrastructure protection plan sectors including agriculture-food, public health and commercial facilities. The current manual methods of securing milk are paper intensive and prone to errors. The bulk milk transportation sector requires a security enhancement that will both reduce recording errors and enable normal transport activities to occur while providing security against unauthorized access. Our group has developed a milk transport security system which is an electromechanical access control and communication system that assures the secure transport of milk, milk samples, milk data, and security data between locations, and specifically between dairy farms, transfer stations, receiving stations, and milk plants. It includes a security monitoring system installed on the milk transport tank, a hand held device, optional printers, data server, and security evaluation software. The system operates automatically and requires minimal or no attention by the bulk milk hauler/sampler. The system is compatible with existing milk transport infrastructure, and has the support of the milk producers, milk transportation companies, milk marketing agencies, and dairy processors. The security protocol developed is applicable for transport of other bulk foods both nationally and internationally.

Neutron-based portable drug probe

Based on previous measurements, a probe prototype for contraband detection utilizing the neutron technique of Pulsed Fast-Thermal Neutron Analysis (PFTNA) is being constructed. The prototype weighs less than 45 kg and is composed of a probe (5 cm diameter), a power pack and a data acquisition and display system. The probe is designed to be inserted in confined spaces such as the boiler of a ship or a tanker truck filled with liquid. The probe provides information on a) the elemental content, and b) the density variations of the interrogated object. By measuring elemental content, the probe can differentiate between innocuous materials and drugs. Density variations can be found through fast neutron transmission. In all cases, hidden drugs are identified through the measurement of the elemental content of the object, and the comparison of expected and measured elemental ratios.

A wireless electronic monitoring system for securing milk from farm to processor

The department of homeland security and the department of health and human services have targeted bulk food contamination as a focus for attention. Milk transport falls into three of the 17 targeted national infrastructure protection plan sectors including agriculture-food, public health and commercial facilities. The current manual methods of securing milk are paper intensive and prone to errors. The bulk milk transportation sector requires a security enhancement that will both reduce recording errors and enable normal transport activities to occur while providing security against unauthorized access. Our group has developed a milk transport security system which is an electromechanical access control and communication system that assures the secure transport of milk, milk samples, milk data, and security data between locations, and specifically between dairy farms, transfer stations, receiving stations, and milk plants. It includes a security monitoring system installed on the milk transport tank, a hand held device, optional printers, data server, and security evaluation software. The system operates automatically and requires minimal or no attention by the bulk milk hauler/sampler. The system is compatible with existing milk transport infrastructure, and has the support of the milk producers, milk transportation companies, milk marketing agencies, and dairy processors. The security protocol developed is applicable for transport of other bulk foods both nationally and internationally.

A tracking technology for security personnel and first responders

Northwest Nuclear, LLC (NWN), the Applied Physics Institute (API) at Western Kentucky University, and Crisis Prep Services, LLC (CPS) have developed a tracking technology for first responders and security personnel based upon the AeroScout system (a product of AeroScout, Inc.) and technologies developed independently by NWN, API, and CPS. These systems provide location information using 802.11XXX architecture by measuring the time of arrival of packets from a set of active radio frequency (RF) tags to a set of location receivers. The system can track and graphically display the location on maps, drawings, floor plans or photographs of tagged items on any 802.11-compliant devices (PDAs, laptops, computers, WiFi telephones) situated both outside and inside structures. This location information would be vital for tracking the location of first responders, security, and other emergency personnel during rescue operations; particularly, under adverse conditions (e.g., fires). NWN, API, and CPS have been improving the precision of the location measurement to an uncertainty of 20 cm or 8 inches (under certain conditions) and also developing algorithms to increase the accuracy. NWN and API personnel have developed: 1) special tags which indicate tampering or sudden movement and transmit briefly under these conditions, and 2) permanent and portable systems which can be deployed rapidly. Additional software created by Crisis Prep Services, LLC allows response force personnel to be tracked and located inside a building in real time as well as use the software and tags as a training and rehersal system. The location of each person is depicted on a drawing of the building and is displayed on a laptop computer or any other browser capable device.

Inexpensive semi-autonomous ground vehicles for defusing IEDs

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are an important concern to coalition forces during the conflicts in the Middle East. These devices are responsible for many casualties to American armed forces in the Middle East. These explosives are particularly dangerous because they are improvised with materials readily available to the designer, and there is no systematic way of explosive ordinance disposal. IEDs can be made from things such as standard military ammunition and can be detonated with common electronic devices such as cell phones and garage door openers. There is a great need for a low cost solution to neutralize these IEDs. At the Applied Physics Institute we are building a single function disrupter robot whose sole purpose is to neutralize these IEDs. We are modifying a toy remote control car to control it either wirelessly using WI-FI (IEEE 802.11) or wired by tethering the vehicle with an Ethernet cable (IEEE 802.3). The robot will be equipped with a high velocity fuze disrupter to neutralize the IED as well as a video camera for inspection and aiming purposes. This robot utilizes commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components which keeps the cost relatively low. Currently, similar robot systems have been deployed in Iraq and elsewhere but their method of operation is such that it is impractical to use in non-combat situations. We will discuss our design and possible deployment scenarios.

A Pressurized Tank Car Inspection System for Railroad Transportation Security

Pressurized rail tank cars transport large volumes of volatile liquids and gases throughout the country, much of which is hazardous and/or flammable. Our group is developing a trackside inspection system for these tank cars. It consists of five narrow frequency band pressure sensors with center frequencies of 40 and 75 kHz, a broad band microphone for sound normalization and three video cameras. In addition, a 5 cm times 5 cm NaI(Tl) radiation detector provides radiological data on the passing trains every 60 seconds. During operation, an audio frequency spectrum is associated with each frame of the video camera as the train passes by the system at normal speeds, and the spectra are inspected for high frequency sounds associated with leaks. A 10 m tall tower houses the system positioned approximately 10 m from the center of a rail line and siding located in Bowling Green, KY (USA). The system is controlled by a website and server located at the tower and the Internet connection utilizes WiFi (802.11 g) radios.

Acoustic leak-detection system for railroad transportation security

Pressurized rail tank cars transport large volumes of volatile liquids and gases throughout the country, much of which is hazardous and/or flammable. These gases, once released in the atmosphere, can wreak havoc with the environment and local populations. We developed a system which can non-intrusively and non-invasively detect and locate pinhole-sized leaks in pressurized rail tank cars using acoustic sensors. The sound waves from a leak are produced by turbulence from the gas leaking to the atmosphere. For example, a 500 μm hole in an air tank pressurized to 689 kPa produces a broad audio frequency spectrum with a peak near 40 kHz. This signal is detectable at 10 meters with a sound pressure level of 25 dB. We are able to locate a leak source using triangulation techniques. The prototype of the system consists of a network of acoustic sensors and is located approximately 10 meters from the center of the rail-line. The prototype has two types of acoustic sensors, each with different narrow frequency response band: 40 kHz and 80 kHz. The prototype is connected to the Internet using WiFi (802.11g) transceiver and can be remotely operated from anywhere in the world. The paper discusses the construction, operation and performance of the system.

A real-time tracking system for monitoring shipments of hazardous materials

Due to the ever increasing use of radioactive materials in day to day living from the treatment of cancer patients and irradiation of food for preservation to industrial radiography to check for defects in the welding of pipelines and buildings there is a growing concern over the tracking and monitoring of these sources in transit prior to use as well as the waste produced by such use. The prevention of lost sealed sources is important in reducing the environmental and health risk posed by direct exposure, co-mingling in the metal recycling stream, use in contaminated consumer products, and use in terrorist activities. Northwest Nuclear, LLC (NWN) and the Applied Physics Institute (API) at Western Kentucky University have developed a tracking technology using active radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. This system provides location information by measuring the time of arrival of packets from a set of RFID tags to a set of location receivers. The system can track and graphically display the location on maps, drawings or photographs of tagged items on any 802.11- compliant device (PDAs, laptops, computers, WiFi telephones) situated both outside and inside structures. This location information would be vital for tracking the location of high level radiological sources while in transit. RFID technology would reduce the number of lost sources by tracking them from origination to destination. Special tags which indicate tampering or sudden movement have also been developed.