EMPHASIS - detection and localisation of illicit bomb factories in urban areas

The objective with the EMPHASIS (Explosive Material Production (Hidden) Agile Search and Intelligence System) project is to develop a system for detecting ongoing illicit production of explosives and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in urban areas. The EMPHASIS system will be composed of networked sensors. Area sensors, strategically positioned, for the monitoring of explosives or precursors to explosives in the vapour phase will be used. Static sensors, positioned in the sewer, for the monitoring of the sewage for indicative traces will also be used. The detectors will be connected in a network and the total gathered data will be fused and evaluated. If a threat substance is detected in elevated amounts, information about the type, location, time and amount will be registered and sent to a command central where further evaluation and appropriate actions can be initiated. The intention is to cover a large area that can be reduced step by step into narrower areas due to a positive alert. The number of sensors used will be increased in the smaller areas. For the final verification stand-off detectors in equipped mobile units will be used to pinpoint the location of the bomb factory. The techniques adopted in the project include electrochemical sensors for the sewage subsystem, resonant Raman and active QCL (Quantum Cascade Laser) transmission spectroscopic techniques for the area monitoring subsystem. Active imaging IR (Infra Red) laser backscattering and stand-off imaging Raman spectroscopic techniques will be used in the final verification. In the EMPHASIS project, threat analysis and search strategy, system network and integration, deployment, legal aspects, cost effectiveness and data fusion and information management will be evaluated. The project also includes a test and subsystem validation part. The consortium consists of nine partners, research institutes (FOI, Fraunhofer ICT and IAF, TNO), industry (Morpho), SMEs (Portendo, VIGO, Cascade) and an end user (Institut National de Police Scientifique)