A Wilmington-based company is putting its system for detecting ‘ghost guns’ to the test at its first beta site.
Liberty Defense Holdings Ltd. announced it will deploy its technology to detect concealed weapons and other threats at one of the largest Hindu temples in the United States. The company did not disclose the name of the temple but said it was located in Georgia and that beta testing will continue over the next 12 weeks.
"After over six years of development and significant investment in the technology, we are very pleased to announce that today we have achieved a major milestone on Liberty's path to commercialization," CEO Bill Frain said in a statement.
Earlier this year, Frain told BostInno that the company’s technology is more advanced than metal detectors, which only alert authorities to metal weapons. Liberty Defense’s system focuses on the shape and not the material of objects, meaning it can pick up non-metal objects like 3-D printed plastic weapons.
The company’s hardware consists of two panels that people walk through. The panels emit radio frequencies that bounce off people and create a 3-D image of their bodies.
Liberty Defense exclusively licensed this technology from MIT in 2018. Frain said the company has been creating an algorithm to detect shapes similar to guns, pipe bombs or other explosives.
This temple marks Liberty Defense’s first testing in a real-world scenario. The company said the organization it is working with has several temples located throughout North America and is the first house of worship to sign on with Liberty.
The testing will consist of screening visitors and worshipers inside the temple and controlled testing that will be compared with Liberty's own internal data.
Frain previously told BostInno that the company will roll out its beta testing sites in August and September, including at Toronto Airport, the Baltimore Orioles’ stadium and the University of Wisconsin.
“We are thrilled to have the HEXWAVE system in the field and operated by security staff of key industry-leading organizations representing our target verticals. Collecting data and market feedback during the beta trial period will be invaluable to our success.”
The purpose of these tests is to allow Liberty Defense to test its AI’s ability to discern between threats and harmless objects, like cell phones and wallets. Frain said the company expects to have this product commercially available in the first quarter of 2023.
