Samsung Thales: See Through Obstacles, Detect Hidden Threats
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Heavy clouds, fog, flame, dust and other natural phenomena as well as clothing won't be able to conceal obstacles anymore with the landmark development of indigenous millimeter-wave imaging radiometer equipment (MIRAE).
Samsung Thales (STC), South Korea's leading defense electronics maker, has unveiled its millimeter-wave imaging camera system.
The MIRAE will be showcased during the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition 2009 from Oct. 20 to 25.
With the support of the state-funded Agency for Defense Development (ADD), Samsung Thales has led the 2.28-billion-won project in partnership with local firms and research agencies since 2006 when the MIRAE development was initiated both for civil and military purposes, the firm said in a news release.
South Korea is the second nation in the world that has succeeded in developing such a system after the United States. Northrop Grumman, Trex Enterprise and Millivision of the U.S. developed the technology, known as passive millimeter wave (PMMW) technology.
"It's meaningful that South Korean defense firms, in cooperation with local small- and medium-sized companies and research institutes, have successfully developed this technology for the second time in the world," said Kim Yong-hwan, an executive director of the Yongin research center. "Once the full-scale development is completed, the system will be able to help develop or replace existing metal detectors, leading to hundreds of billions of won of domestic sales and exports."
After two years of test trials, the millimeter-wave imaging technology will be used in detecting a broad range of hidden threats, such as explosives or weapons, at security check points at airports, stations and other key facilities, he said.
Calls for introducing high-tech imaging scanners to thwart terrorism have grown since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in the United States in 2001. A metal detector can identify metals, but it is very difficult to detect liquids, plastics, or powders that could be used for explosives.
A safe, accurate, privacy-sensitive screening device that effectively detects concealed threats has been greatly needed.
Millimeter waves can propagate through clothes, paper, and even fire and smoke, so it can identify concealed objects. This feature differentiates from the digital and infrared cameras, which only detect the surface temperature of objects. Infrared rays and an electronic light sensor used in digital cameras, for example, can't penetrate into clouds, fog and fire.
The MIRAE involves extremely high-frequency amplifiers running at frequencies up to 300GHz and detectors capable of sensing and processing picowatt power levels. All natural materials, including humans, always radiate thermal noise in millimeter-wave range.
In particular, thermal noise from the human body is stronger than that of the others. So the MIRAE does image-processing by forming images corresponding to the power distribution of millimeter waves.
Basic procedures of the MIRAE are as follows:
-Collecting millimeter waves by dielectric lens.
-Bundling millimeter waves, then extracting signals amplified by an image sensor alley.
-Image-processing of extracted signals.
As the millimeter wave imaging system is based on broadband passive receivers for measurement of physical temperature, molecular absorption or emissivity of an object, its operation doesn't harm the human body, unlike the infrared camera, STC officials say.
STC succeeded in developing an indigenous monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) chip, a key part of the PMMW, to be installed on the image receiver.
For military purposes, the MIRAE could be applied to unmanned combat robot systems conducting reconnaissance and surveillance missions in bad weather conditions as well as unmanned border patrol systems.
Spy planes fitted with this technology could monitor or detect concealed weapons or facilities in the enemy area.
Commercial applications include detecting people in danger or obstacles hidden by flame or smoke in the case of a fire in a subway station or tunnel.
Military Solutions Provider
Samsung Thales, a joint venture between South Korea's Samsung industrial group and Thales, the French electronics giant, offers military electronics products ranging from the C4I digital command-control system, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment to radars, avionics, fire control systems, electro-optical devices and naval combat systems.
The firm is the main developer of the Tactical Information Communication Network (TICN), which replaced the Korean Army's SPIDER communications system. TICN is a future tactical military communication information system that will enable precise command, control and decision-making by unifying the diversified military communication network and conveying a broad array of battlefield information in real time.
It is designed to advance into a high-speed, large-capacity, long-distance wireless relay transmission system.
It dates from 1978, when its predecessor, Samsung Aerospace, entered the defense market. In 1991, the firm was transferred to Samsung Electronics, the flagship of the Samsung Group and one of the world's largest manufacturers of semiconductors and consumer electronics, such as TVs, DVD players and digital cameras.
The defense electronics operation was re-established as STC in 2000 with an investment from Thales. Today, STC has three French executives and is capitalized at 270 billion won. Thales has invested nearly half that amount.
The firm has grown over the last three years by 12 percent annually, said Kim Youn-ki, a company spokesman. STC's annual sales in the same period have topped 550 billion won, with 2008 sales reaching 580 billion won, he said. The company aims to take that figure to 1 trillion won by 2012.