Albuquerque, N.M.-based R3 Technologies is developing a way to prevent suicide attacks by detecting concealed bombs before they go off. The company's CBD-1000 uses X-band radar to detect metallic and nonmetallic explosives as well as ball bearings, glass, nails, ceramics, rocks and other materials frequently used as shrapnel in suicide vests.

The CBD-1000 is the size of a cereal box, weighs about 13 pounds and is mounted on a tripod. It is electric or battery powered and works with embedded software. The device uses a spread spectrum, stepped continuous wave radar to bounce a signal off a subject. The software analyzes both horizontal and vertical polarized signals to determine the presence of a potential threat.

R3 Technologies CEO Robby Roberson wears a mock suicide vest in front of the CBD-1000. Image credit: Randy Montoya. “If the person is not carrying a threat, the return signal is in the same polarity as when it was transmitted,” says company CEO Robby Roberson. “A threat will rotate the polarity of the signal, and it comes back differently.”

The system sets up in about 15 minutes and an operator, who does not need a working knowledge of radar, can be trained in 30 minutes, the company says. The scan takes about 1.3 seconds from 9 feet away. Roberson says the team is refining algorithms that will allow people in motion to be scanned at greater distances.

“We’re working toward an instantaneous scan so a person can be checked while moving through the beam field. And we hope to extend the range to 100 feet,” Roberson says. “We want to take movement out of the equation. People who want to protect their citizens want to detect at a distance [to] keep the threat away. They want to scan crowds and stop threats before they get too close.”

The device is designed to detect bombs that current metal detector technology would miss and is intended for screening areas at airports, embassies, public and government buildings, border crossings, transportation hubs and military compounds. It is portable and could be used at special events.

R3 partnered with Sandia National Laboratories to help bring the technology close to commercialization over the past two years. Sandia's role largely has been to develop ways to measure how well the technology works, improve the device’s accuracy by analyzing false positives and redevelop the software so it more reliably detects a bomb threat.

Roberson plans to go to market in 2016. He says the CBD-1000 will cost about $50,000 and that several hundred units have been produced. The company says it has received inquiries from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Singapore, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria.