Rohde & Schwarz: Securing prisons with precision

Andreas Hägele, Vice President of Microwave Imaging, Rohde & Schwarz emphasises the company’s commitment to revolutionising prison security with advanced millimetre scanning.

How does Rohde & Schwarz utilise advanced millimetre wave technology to enhance the detection of contraband and threats in prisons?

Detecting contraband is our main discipline. That’s where it all started, particularly in the airport and aviation security space.

A few years ago, however, we felt there was another use case worth exploring: Screening prison visitors and screening inmates when returning from a ‘lock-up area’, such as a workshop, and preventing them from transporting tools/materials from one place to the other.

After moving into this sector, we quickly engaged with innovative experts from a prison network who immediately were impressed with our unique technology and agreed to co-develop with us.

We quickly understood that the solution we had been using for aviation security, and the trained detection algorithm, did not work at all for prison environments.

In prisons, it is a completely different type of contraband that operators are looking for.

There’s a clear demand for non-intrusive screening technologies with the ability to detect contraband that is relevant to prisoners.

Drugs, of course, are a big concern, but everything else you can think of such as improvised stabbing devices (often made from various types of plastics), SIM cards, credit cards and more also need to be intercepted.

You might be surprised to learn that mini-Bluetooth cell phones pose a significant problem.

They are the size of the top of a thumb but can provide full communication functionality, which is forbidden in prisons. It is difficult to detect these using traditional methods and technologies.

With traditional means of detection – such as older walk-through metal detectors – very small phones will not set-off the alarm; nor will drugs, especially when transported in small syringes or vials.

How does the AI-based algorithm in the R&S QPS improve the detection of small or novel threats?

To train our algorithms, we conduct data recordings of people without contraband and then do the same recordings of people with contraband.

We hide this contraband on relevant places across the entire body and incorporate this into the machine learning process.

From there, the algorithm starts to distinguish between a malign and a benign object, a contraband item or something that is normal to a person.

Our technology won’t be confused by buttons or zippers, because it isn’t contraband. Our millimetre wave scanner would spot it, but the algorithm would be able to distinguish it, understand it and assess that it is not a threat.

We trained the system to a level that our innovative co-development partner was happy with – and issued a letter which explained that it had conducted comprehensive testing of Rohde & Schwarz’s hardware and software and that it was approved for use within their prisons.

But they wouldn’t tell us how they tested our system; they just said they were very happy to serve as a reference. This is how the word spread.

Can you tell us more about Rohde & Schwarz’s approach to innovation and collaboration?

We have become part of a community of correctional institutions, particularly here in Europe, where they have developed trust in our solution and supported our growth.

However, we are continuously training our algorithms in order to improve.

It is now common to see drugs e.g. dissolved into liquids which are smuggled in for consumption.

This is the type of threat we train our system to detect to a reasonable degree. By working in collaboration with prisons, we aim to close the gap.

Our QPS201 body scanners operate at a high frequency range, which provides a very high resolution.

Our algorithms run on powerful GPUs and, as AI evolves, we can continue to even improve further exploiting those extra computation resources compared to previous generations.

This is a promise we give to prisons and was one of the reasons we were awarded the DrugDetect Program for Prisons in Europe.

Microwave imaging has the capability to detect any type of material, whether that is metallic, non-metallic, organic, powder or liquid; it makes no difference to the millimetre wave.

There is also no health impact because the millimetre waves are completely reflected by the skin. In fact, it’s a non-ionising technology, meaning it has no potential to alter cell structures or cause cancer.

What else would you like to tell us about your solutions and approach?

Convenience plays a pivotal role in user acceptance today.

In the past, prison staff had to do full body pat-downs, which are considered to be invasive. However, there is also a risk that the individual could attack the member of staff whilst they are distracted by the search.

By utilising a QPS201 body scanner, you’re completely distant to the person being searched and they can stand in a natural pose. Rohde & Schwarz also invented the ‘arms-down’, natural pose, as opposed to the ‘arms-up’ pose many prisoners feel is offensive to them.

It’s important to keep the mood calm in a prison and keep everyone safe.

Furthermore, all the scanners can be networked by a QPS server.

This means that authorities can check the utilisation and statistics of the scanners across their network of prisons spread in the country and identify any potential outliers by using these statistics.

This is one area that has an operational aspect to it.

On top of that, in a cadence of every two years, we are launching a major algorithm update that the prisons can then decide if they want to implement or not.

Lately, we have seen an uplift in business in North America.

As the region moves away from backscatter x-ray to millimetre wave screening, and with our references and our specialisation in that area, we have hit the ground running.