Standoff Explosives Detection System (SEDS)

LaunchPoint Provides Consulting and Engineering Design for Standoff Explosives Detection System (SEDS)

The company SEDS, in partnership with LaunchPoint and Adelphi Technology, is anticipating a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a specialized gamma ray telescope for the detection and identification of concealed explosives.

“Gamma ray vision” has been used for years in the petroleum industry to identify materials located several feet into the earth in exploratory bore holes. Because the atoms of various elements produce unique gamma ray signatures when stimulated by neutrons, the elemental composition of these unreachable spaces can be inferred. Recently, fusion neutron sources such as the Adelphi Technology DD-109 have made greater range and detection speed possible.

Led by engineering physicist Dr. Ken Ricci, LaunchPoint engineers are providing mechanical, electrical, and signal processing expertise and have produced significant intellectual property for the development of this device.

The SEDS device is expected to have significant value in the military and Homeland Security markets, and technology spin-offs from SEDS may ultimately have applications in minerals recovery.