Public security

Explosion Detecting Sensors Possibly Deployed in US Public Places

The defense agency said the network of sensors it wants to install would monitor “seismic, sound, air pressure, radiation, light, and radio frequency signals to help determine the size, location, and other characteristics of an explosion. All of the sensors being installed are passive until triggered by an event, and do not at any time record video or voice data.”

The agency’s statement said such sensors have already been installed in other U.S. cities, though it did not say which ones.

Science Magazine disclosed in March that there has been a government-wide effort to upgrade old blast sensors systems from a number of cities and link them into a network that would be operable as of 2018 and has been named “Discreet Oculus” which can be deployed in and around cities. A portable version is also planned.