Acoustics
PNNL offers a broad range of expertise in developing measurement technologies and processing techniques in the high-energy, non-linear, acoustic regimes. The techologies and techniques help solve difficult sensing, monitoring and processing problems.
PNNL's scientists and engineers apply advanced acoustics technologies to help:
- Law enforcement detect contraband.
- Fuel-compliance operations.
- Government and military applications.
- Transportation compliance.
- Quality control.
- Inventory management.
- Public-events security.
- First-response operations.
Emerging homeland security threats and increasingly sophisticated adversaries have heightened the need for effective technologies that can classify, sort and discriminate the contents of small and large containers — from liquids to bulk solids — within a few seconds. Current technologies are limited by prolonged laboratory analysis, high false-positive readings and extensive operator training requirements.
But an advanced technology developed by researchers at PNNL addresses those challenges using acoustic measurement capabilities. Unique characteristics of Acoustic Technologies allow our researchers to:
- DETECT anomalies, contraband and hidden compartments in liquid-filled containers and solid form commodities,
- SORT/CLASSIFY liquid types into groups of like and unlike contents,
- DISCRIMINATE liquids and bulk solids as a function of temperature,
- DETERMINE the fill-level in liquid-filled containers, and
- RAPID and easy-to-interpret measurement results.
PNNL Development: Container Screening Device
Imagine a device that can tell the difference between Coca-Cola® and Pepsi-Cola® by simply "screening" the contents of the liquids. PNNL scientists have developed a benchtop, portable container screening device (CSD) used for real-time identification of contents in sealed containers. This screening technology originally was developed by PNNL for U.S. and Russian chemical weapons bilateral treaty verification and for inspection of chemical weapon stockpiles in Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War.
The CSD is a handheld device roughly the size and shape of a large flare gun and containing a sensor head. It is tethered to a personal digital assistant, linked to a data library and can determine the contents of sealed, liquid-filled containers. It also can examine bulk-solid commodities, detecting foreign objects, contraband or hidden explosives. An earlier version of the CSD is being commercialized for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection by Mehl Griffin & Bartek LTD, a company located in Arlington, Virginia.
A similar version of the device now is being used along the borders in Eastern Europe for detecting smuggled goods.
The CSD was designed to inspect and classify/discriminate the liquid contents in smaller containers — such as shampoo bottles, soda cans, glass containers — and containers as large as a 55-gallon drum from those pre-characterized acoustic signatures in the active database. This technology can be used for everything from detecting hidden contraband to screening fuels.