STANDEX Follow-on : Complementary Call for Proposals - Suicide Bomber Alert Management
The threat of terrorism by suicide bombing remains a principal concern of public security professionals such as mass transport operators and police forces. New detection technologies, such as those developed in the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) Science for Peace and Security (SPS)-sponsored STANDEX Programme combine real time sensors, video tracking and data fusion to allow early detection of such person-borne improvised explosive devices with the goal of stopping an attack before it can affect the targeted infrastructure. This technology is expected to become commercially available in the next few years.
With the development and deployment of such technology, however, the management of alerts, i.e. of suspicious persons detected, poses a significant challenge. Despite a variety of protocols implemented by security forces, response to these alerts could be greatly improved through application of new technologies.
The SPS Programme is currently preparing a new project to develop technologies to improve suicide bomber detection and alert management; the aim is to present this project to the NATO-Russia council for evaluation in 2014.
We hereby solicit proposals for technologies for the management of alerts of suspected suicide bombers in crowed areas such as mass-transport facilities. Proposed technologies should be appropriate for a high traffic mass transit environment and should address one or more of the following areas, assuming that a suspect has been identified with high (but not 100%) confidence:
- delaying suspects, without causing them to self-detonate, while alerts are verified by secondary detectors
- reliably disrupting suicide bomb detonation
- separating suspected bombers from crowds without causing them to self-detonate
- safely containing suspects for alarm verification
- reducing damage and casualties from a suicide blast
- other technologies for dealing with suspected suicide bombers in crowded spaces.
Because the project is slated to be carried out under the aegis of the NRC, only proposals from researchers or institutions in NATO nations¹ or in the Russian Federation can be considered. Proposed solutions should be ready to be integrated into an operational prototype detection and response system to be field tested in a mass-transit facility following three years of development. Proposals received will be considered for inclusion in the final NRC SPS project.
Please see the following link: http://www.nato.int/science/2014/20140206-STANDEX_Complementary_Call_Application.docx for the application form, which should be sent to Michael Switkes (switkes.michael@hq.nato.int) by 3 March 2014.
1. Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States