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19 August 2002 Editor's note: A helpful NASA Watch reader sent us the following in response to the slightly silly (but not alltogether incorrect) article "NASA plans to read terrorist's minds at airports" that appeared in the Washington Times last weekend:
I have been able to infer that the NASA proposal will likely use sensors that are relatively close to the passengers (similar to the wands) only these will be picking up EEG/EMG readings. How the data can be correlated in any way seems far fetched. The following data are the PUBLIC sources of data I have gathered about the NASA project. The following seems to be the NASA Ames group working on this project (EXTENSION OF THE HUMAN SENSES GROUP, NEURO-ENGINEERING, COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCES DIVISION). http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/projects/ne/ehs.html Their projects include EEG Pattern Recognition which aims to improve performance of NASA missions by developing brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies for augmented human-system interaction and EMG Pattern Recognition. Solicitations for NASA Passenger Profiler are listed at the following web sites:
"NASA/ARC plans to issue a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for a production data acquisition and organization capability to enable the continued development of NASA/ARC's Aviation Security Passenger Screening System. The system will demonstrate the Information Technology capabilities developed at ARC and the relevance of those technologies to ensuring flight safety through the identification of potentially threatening passengers. NASA/ARC intends to purchase the items from Voquette Inc, of San Mateo, CA (1) based on its unique capabilities to provide production data acquisition software and to provide speed of data acquisition. Voquette software has already been used to develop a baseline database generation capability at NASA Ames. In order to continue this development, NASA Ames intends to procure a license to the Voquette software so that Ames personnel can develop new capabilities in-house. This data acquisition system is a critical building block for the baseline database generation capability and must be established immediately. Other factors for the procurement include the speed of data acquisition of the Voquette product, Voquette's experience in the development of terrorist information systems, and Voquette's exclusive patent rights to a semantic processing capability, enabling the aforementioned delivery of data pertinent to the situation and the dynamic definition of "interesting" data. Continuation of the use of Voquette software is also expected to be cost-effective with regards to installation, personnel training, engineering services from company experts, and the expense of further interruption in the development of the system, supporting the Ames role in Aviation Security." Apparently this contract was awarded and listed in the following web site http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/facs/adhoc.cgi (search under VOQUETTE's name for FY 2002) The following is the text of the search:
"Contractor VOQUETTE INC Another item of interest that is being bought is the following: http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/synopsis.cgi?acqid=101874 which mentions QUASAR Co. as the source for sensors.
"NASA/ARC plans to issue a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for a set of four parallel sensors (8 non-contact electrodes in 4 differential pairs). Capacitively coupled contactless electrodes for use with Electromygogram (EMG) and Electroenecephalogram (EEG) detection. NASA/ARC intends to purchase the items from Quantum Applied Science and Research (QUASAR), 6730 Mesa Ridge Rd., Suite A, San Diego, CA 92121. QUASAR is the only company that manufactures these contactless EMG and EEG electrodes." The reason this seems applicable to the project, though not stated directly, is another site: http://www.arpa.gov/DSO/thrust/sp/metaEng/quasar.html This site is from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) and states
"Recent sensor development has produced a capacitive electric potential sensor capable of reaching the microvolt level from 1 Hz to 10 kHz. The free space potential is sensed using a small, unobtrusive, non-contacting thin metallic electrode that can be used through clothing. This advance opens up the possibility of including high resolution ECG and EEG capability into the Land Warrior medical equipment package."
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