Maritime Association Wins $850,000 U.S. Port Security Grant to Develop Unique Anti-Terror Acoustic Detection System.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 23, 2003

Breakthrough "PUBS(TM)" technology will allow rapid, non-intrusive

identification of cargo container contents

The Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey (MAPONY/NJ) has been awarded an $850,000 port security grant by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for development of an acoustic detection technology that can rapidly check for threats inside cargo containers without disturbing their contents or presenting hazards to nearby personnel.

Developed by entrepreneur Alan Greene and inventor Frank Rees of Greene Rees Technologies, LLC (GRT), the Parametric Ultra-wide Band Sounding (PUBS(TM)) technology promises to revolutionize the complex, potentially hazardous process of remotely examining loaded cargo containers. The technology will acoustically "look" inside a container by sending out sound signals and analyzing "backscatter" data to rapidly and reliably detect threats.

"The Maritime Association supports PUBS as part of our mission to ensure safe, secure commerce by advancing the state of technology," said MAPONY/NJ Executive Director Nick Cretan. "We are grateful for TSA's vision in backing the development of this critical new security tool."

Locating materials of mass destruction, explosives, narcotics or other contraband items hidden among normal commercial materials in a single container can be a daunting problem. Current "radiation"-based approaches - such as with the Vehicle and Container Inspection System (VACIS) - require evacuating the vehicle on which a cargo container is mounted during ingress to or egress from a secure port area. The need to remove personnel while scanning a vehicle or container on a vehicle arises due to the ionizing radiation - e.g., X-rays, Gamma-rays, thermal or fast pulsed neutrons - involved in penetrating the vehicle or container walls.

Ultra Wide Band (UWB) radar has been suggested as a possible solution. However, its ability to only examine the morphology of the cargo involves examining numerous container-cargo "images," generally, without the benefit of 3-D tomography afforded certain forms of airport luggage interrogation.

PUBS(TM) technology overcomes the compelling need for metallic wall-penetration while matching the image-resolution powers of UWB, but does so through use of non-linear-acoustically generated "impulses" rather than its ultra-wide-band microwave radar counterpart. "Since every material has its own distinctive molecular make-up, PUBS(TM) technology aims at revealing the nonlinear-acoustic signature of any item so it can be readily identified against a database," explains Alan Greene of GRT.

PUBS(TM) technology offers huge deployment flexibility. PUBS(TM) units could be mounted on scanning portals through which flatbed container cargo trucks would have to drive or installed on traveling loading-crane gantries at secure ports of origin or destination. For at-sea interdiction of container-cargo vessels, a PUBS(TM) unit capable of being cable-winch deployed and maneuvered by a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) helicopter could be employed to perform the interrogation from the side of and, then, contiguously through any side-by-side deck mounted containers. Soundings could also be performed from above as a way to penetrate downward through layers of containers. A pressure-vessel mounted PUBS unit could accomplish below-waterline interrogation via an underwater sonar mode, similar to "dunking-sonar" pods employed by U.S Navy helicopters. In this way, more effective penetration of the below-waterline hull plate also would result.

PUBS(TM) was conceived by GRT, and is the intellectual property of that organization. It has been registered under the U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office Patent Disclosure Program. It also has been designated as a prime candidate for a follow-on phase of a MARAD Grant.

The Maritime Association is the "Chamber of Commerce" of New York/New Jersey Harbor. The Association's membership spans the range of industries and professions within the Tri-State maritime business, from steamship agents, owners, and operators, to maritime law firms and marine suppliers. MAPONY/NJ provides industry and government with critical ship reporting and intelligence services, and represents harbor interests at the local, state, and federal levels.

GRT is an advanced technology corporation based in Darien, CT. Alan Greene is a former managing partner at Price Waterhouse and sits as a member-of-the-board at various high technology companies. Frank Rees is a well known inventor of acoustic, nonlinear-acoustic, opto-acoustic, satellite communications, radar, and other sensor-related systems and their advanced signal-processing and imaging subsystems. He is the founder of Rees Science and Technology, Limited (RS&T, Ltd.), and a co-founder of Flight Safety Technologies, Inc., where he continues to direct targeted research.