February 23, 2005

By TIM MILLER
6 News Anchor/Reporter

KNOX COUNTY (WATE) -- Mobile SensorNet provides surveillance for first responders and homeland security agencies. It's convenient, compact and making a name for itself across the country.

When the Tennessee Titans played the Kansas City Chiefs on December 13, 2004 in Nashville, the coliseum was filled with excitement and fans. And mobile SensorNet was also there, making sure terrorists weren't also in the stands with dangerous weapons.

SensorNet Project Leader Tony Turner says, "We supported the Titans security department and in Nashville, the police department, as well as Gen. Humble's homeland security office there in Nashville."

Mobile SensorNet can detect a person, vehicle or object that has chemical or radiological materials, alerting law enforcement before an attack can happen.

Unlike the fixed sensors at places like the I-40 weigh station near Watt Road, the mobile ones can be packed and taken to a particular event such as a Titans game, or at some point in the future, Neyland Stadium.

It's cutting edge technology being developed in East Tennessee. "This device here is a communications node," Turner says. "The components of the node include a processor or a mini-computer, a global positioning system, a wireless access point, or a wireless router, and other devices to actually communicate data."

ORNL's mobile SensorNet was also used at San Diego, California's Mardi Gras Festival earlier in February. And Turner says several more agencies are interested in it, such as the Department of Homeland Security in Washington and the city of Chattanooga.

In the near future, ORNL says it will miniaturize mobile SensorNet, making it as small as a PDA or a cell phone. That will allow them to make a wireless system that can contain several sensors to provide better coverage.

Mobile SensorNet is already installed in Memphis.

Click here to return to part one: fixed sensors