SpotterRF brings ground-based radar to commercial security
While most people traditionally associate ground-based radar systems as being the domain of military applications, one company that attended ASIS 2012 last week in Philadelphia is looking to make the technology economically feasible for the commercial security market.
Utah-based SpotterRF, which spun out of radar systems manufacturer ImSAR in 2009, has developed a small, lightweight radar system called the Spotter C40 for just under $12,000 that is ideal for perimeter security applications, according to company CEO Logan Harris.
"That’s putting ground surveillance radar in a level that most outdoor security systems can have," Harris explained. "A lot of people looked (at this technology before) and said this was too costly, too troublesome."
According to Harris, the company started out developing technology primarily for the military and had some of its radar systems deployed in spy planes. However, Harris said the company received an investment from a venture capital firm in 2010 that changed their focus towards making systems that could be more widely adopted for commercial security.
Placed on the perimeter of site, Harris said the aforementioned Spotter C40 surveillance radar system offers a 350-meter range and a 90-degree field of view, which essentially provides users with 20 acres of coverage.
Harris said that many applications, including small and mid-sized airport couldn’t have a system like this before due to the high price tag that accompanied them. The company believes that the system will also be ideal for a variety of critical infrastructure sites including oil and gas facilities, as well as seaports and dams.
This ground-based radar system is also not intended to supplant camera systems, according to Harris, but rather help them identify and track a possible intruder. "It doesn’t replace cameras, it just makes them more effective," he said.
The Spotter C40 received a 2012 ASIS Accolades Award and will be available for purchase beginning in the fourth quarter of this year.
