Volpe Center Highlights
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 The Volpe Center manages the Entry Point Screening (EPS) Program, whose primary concern is protecting people and facilities against bombs carried by personnel, vehicles, vessels, mail, and cargo. The EPS projects include Operation Safe Commerce (above), for which Volpe performed an assessment of an entire multimodal, global supply chain and demonstrated tracking and sensing technologies. Data were captured by interrogation stations and transmitted to the Volpe Center. (View larger image.) |
Combating Terrorism with Entry Point Screening (TSWG)
Swift responses to security needs demand the cooperation of many agencies to identify requirements, develop solutions, and execute projects. The Volpe Center is proud to be a member of the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG), an interagency group whose mission is to provide for rapid research, development, and prototyping of new technology for the Combating Terrorism Technology Support Office directed by the Department of Defense (DoD).
Volpe supports TSWG's Entry Point Screening (EPS) Program, whose primary concern is protecting people and facilities against large vehicle bombs; it focuses on non-intrusive inspection technology to screen personnel, vehicles, vessels, mail, and cargo. TSWG asked the Volpe Center to serve as EPS program manager because of the Center's expertise in technology application and program management. A member of the Volpe Center's Infrastructure Protection and Operations Division manages all EPS projects, some of which are implemented by Volpe Center staff. EPS projects identify, evaluate, and integrate innovative technologies and procedures; evaluations are undertaken at highrisk DoD and civilian agency locations in the United States and overseas.
During November 20 and 21, 2002, Volpe staff participated in the TSWG Annual Program Review in McLean, Virginia, which was attended by representatives from federal agencies involved in counter-terrorism technology initiatives. An overview of the EPS Program activities was presented, highlighting the Vessel Identification and Positioning System (VIPS) and the Advanced Vehicle/Driver Identification System (AVIDS) both developed by the Volpe Center and Operation Safe Commerce, conducted by a Volpe team.
Leveraging Existing Technology to Counter New Threats: VIPS
The VIPS program was initiated in response to the terrorist attack on the U.S.S. Cole; its primary objective is developing affordable, secure, and highly functional systems to protect U.S. naval vessels and other ships from waterborne attack. VIPS was derived from vessel-tracking systems developed by Volpe's Center for Navigation for use in the Panama Canal and St. Lawrence Seaway. It provides a secure way to identify vessels authorized to approach a government or other high-value marine asset.
 U.S. security operations and force protection units can track all VIPS-equipped vessels in real time on a geographic display. (View larger image.) |
VIPS employs Differential Global Positioning System technology in specially designed transponders to provide U.S. military force-protection units with situation awareness on a geographical display of U.S. military assets and previously examined and approved vessels.
The Center is field testing VIPS with the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard at U.S. ports; the system was deployed recently at Naval Station Norfolk and Boston Harbor. VIPS is scheduled for overseas deployment in summer 2003. (For previous articles on VIPS, see the Volpe Highlights issues dated March/April 2002 and November/December 2002.)
 A screening officer scans an AVIDS ID card to determine if the holder is authorized. Only registered individuals are allowed entry; visitors must go to the enrollment station to register. (See page 5 for AVIDS application of biometrics.) |
Screening Entry to Strategic Military Installations: AVIDS
AVIDS, designed by the Volpe Center's Infrastructure Protection and Operations Division, identifies personnel and vehicles entering U.S. military facilities. It was derived from screening systems the Center developed for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). (See Lessons Learned from Biometric Deployments, page 5.) AVIDS has proven successful at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where many U.S. troops deploy to the Middle East. The Volpe team that designed, installed, and deployed the prototype system at Fort Campbell will soon do the same at strategic locations in the Middle East Operations Area.
Like other Volpe-developed screening systems, AVIDS improves security and throughput at entry points by providing the posted officer with current information about arriving individuals and their vehicles. At Fort Campbell, Volpe developed a database of vital data for registered individuals. When the screening officer scans an AVIDS photo ID card, the wireless system checks the database for verification and delivers information directly to the officer's handheld scanner. The officer knows immediately whether the cardholder is admissible or non-admissible, and if the person is non-admissible, the system notes what action should be taken. Vehicle screening is a significant component of AVIDS. To detect large vehicle bombs, weigh-in-motion technology screens every vehicle. Currently, the Volpe team is developing technology that can "recognize" particular vehicles by reading the license plate and the configuration of the vehicle, including unique characteristics such as dents and scratches.
Operation Safe Commerce Northeast Committee |
Securing the Supply Chain: Operation Safe Commerce
Operation Safe Commerce aims to construct a prototype of a secure international trade corridor by developing dependable procedures for securing, monitoring, and sharing information about cargo from point of origin, through the supply chain, to its final destination entry point. In spring 2002, the Center executed Phase I, in which a single cargo container was tracked, and its security monitored, during shipment from Central Europe to the United States.
The Volpe team achieved its objectives: identification of security concerns and practices within a supply chain for a single container, and demonstration of available technologies for tracking and monitoring the container's integrity and contents. In the future, it is expected that Operation Safe Commerce would serve as a "test bed" to evaluate key issues and proposed improvements in collaboration with related industry and government initiatives.