Two new high-technology companies, SafeView and Intellifit, are translating a three-dimensional millimeter-wave holographic screening device created at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory into two very different industries: screening people for security threats at high-traffic locations such as airports, prisons, and border crossings; and scanning potential customers in order to obtain precise body measurements for custom or best-fit clothing.
A familiar sentiment echoes from department store dressing rooms across the nation. Frustrated shoppers, staring at the mound of clothes they’ve been trying on and taking off, eventually roll their eyes and exasperate, “Why can’t I find clothes that fit?” Perhaps it is a small miracle that any of us can buy clothes that fit, considering that up until recent years, most manufacturers have produced clothes based on a “fit model.” This “fit model” is a perfect size 8—whose size and proportions were determined 60 years ago in a study done by the Department. of Commerce. In 1941, the average woman was 5' 2", 129 pounds.
Today she is 5' 4" and weighs 144 lbs (wearing between a size 12 and 14).
Luckily, innovative technology is coming to the rescue. Recently, shoppers at Catherine’s, a plus-size women’s clothing store in Tacoma, Wash., had the opportunity to be “Intellifitted” and have dozens of precise body measurements taken in less than ten seconds – all while remaining fully clothed. The “Intellifit System,” is a process for obtaining over 200,000 data points of a person’s body and converting this into accurate and meaningful body measurements.
PNNL Researchers developed a millimeter-wave holographic screening device that uses nonharmful, ultrahigh-frequency radio waves to penetrate clothing and nonmetallic objects to detect both concealed objects as well as obtain accurate (within a centimeter) body measurements. The reflected signals are digitized and sent to high-speed computers to form high-resolution 3D images of concealed objects for security use, or are used to extract 3D body measurements for custom fit applications. Radar cylindrical holographic techniques invented at PNNL are coupled with a new combined imaging algorithm to conveniently obtain complete body measurements while the customer remains in normal attire.
In the late 1980s, the Federal Aviation Administration became interested in the potential of this technology for use in airport security screening, which turned the focus of expertise and research on the millimeter-wave holography to security applications and, eventually, the clothing industry. The successful transfer of the millimeter-wave holographic imaging device involved a team of PNNL researchers, legal, and commercialization staff members who could see the potential for this revolutionary technology. Two companies have licensed the technology: SafeView, Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., and the Intellifit Corporation, of Philadelphia.
Intellifit has licensed the PNNL technology to create a body scanning system with computer software applications that enable shoppers to step into a booth and get precise head-to-toe body measurements in less than ten seconds. The system can be set up in the middle of a public place like a shopping mall, individual retail store, or a trade show, where customers can step in and out of the unit, receive their printed information, and continue shopping. The accompanying Intellifit software then uses the measurements to predict best-fitting brands and sizes for the consumer, to help manufacturers develop better-fitting off-the-rack clothing and to aid retailers in buying, stocking, and selling clothes that fit their customers.
The introduction of the technology into the apparel market could change the way clothing is purchased and manufactured. Poor fit is the No. 1 reason for returns and the No. 2 complaint among U.S. shoppers, whether they shop online or in a store. Clothiers can now offer a new product and service that will produce approximately 50 measurements of an individual’s body within seconds and translate these measurements into either instructions for patterns at clothing manufacturers creating “custom fit” clothes, or a personalized recommendation of “best fit” clothes based on that individual’s body. Lane Bryant, a national women’s retailer, was the first store to order Intellifit, and according to the Intellifit website, over 20 systems have been ordered by American retailers.
This is good news for the millions of consumers who are frustrated with sleeves that are too short, hosiery that rolls down, and uncomfortable underpinnings. But the apparel industry is not the only market where the Intellifit System seems cut from the same cloth.
In the near future, this technology may revolutionize how physical proportions and measurements are taken for ergonomic furniture, tailor-made safety equipment, military clothing, car seats, and even prosthetic or therapeutic devices.
Nearly as frustrating as ill-fitting clothes is the drill we’ve all become accustomed to at airports and other high-security facilities: empty your pockets into the tray, take off your jacket and shoes and place them on the conveyor belt—then walk through the portal. The majority of the population passes through unscathed, with the occasional delay while an inspector ponders whether it was your steel-toed boots or a hidden firearm that set off the beeper.
But in the wake 9/11, concealed weapons have become a far greater threat and detecting nonmetal weapons such as plastic handguns, carbon fiber knives, and plastic explosives has become even more of a priority. SafeView, Inc. has commercialized the laboratory’s holographic scanning technology for use the security arena. The startup was formed in part with an investment from Battelle Ventures, which was established in 2003 to invest in and commercialize technologies developed by the Battelle Memorial Institute, which operates four national laboratories, including PNNL, for the Department of Energy.
This application of the technology is called D3P, Dual Panel Planar Portal, which promises to dramatically decrease the long lines for searches with hand-held metal detectors and the irritation and indignity of physical or strip searches at airports. A walk-through scanner uses the non-ionizing millimeter wave technology to screen passengers at airport checkpoints, much like the Intellifit data point measurement scanner, but the different software and use of the technology renders a 3-D image instead, giving security personnel a clear view of any objects hidden under clothing, such as explosives, weapons, or contraband. The technology detects objects made of any material, including plastics, ceramics, and metals. Unlike metal detectors, the D3P provides a high-resolution holographic image of the object on the body, enabling operators to distinguish innocent items, such as pens, wallets, and eyeglasses, from real threats, such as guns, knives, and explosives.
The D3P has several advantages over other detection systems. Unlike chemical sensors, which will only detect threats or contraband that give off vapors, such as plastic explosives and some chemical agents, the D3P’s visual imaging allows many types of threats to be identified. Other X-ray technologies and millimeter-wave imaging systems scan one side at a time, requiring the person or the equipment to rotate to scan both sides of the body. The D3P processes the data to produce an image on the screen in less than eight seconds, including scanning time. As computer processing speeds up, complete imaging time is nearing four seconds. X-ray backscatter-based technologies also produce clear images of hidden objects, but X-rays can be harmful in repeated doses.
The millimeter-wave holographic imaging technology can be combined with other sensor technology to increase the detection of various threats. Potential uses include pathogens detection, advanced chemical sensing systems, nuclear sensors, particulate sensors, radio-frequency tags and wireless communications technologies, vapor sensing technologies, underground metal detectors, land mine detection, and aircraft quality checking. Possible future uses for the D3P include comprehensive screening wherever public safety is critical, including court houses, federal buildings, the White House, prisons, embassies, museums, concert halls, schools, mass transit and nuclear sites.
R&D Magazine awarded “The Intellifit System: Millimeter Wave Holographic Body Scanner for Custom Fitting Apparel” with a 2004 R&D 100 Award, recognizing it as one of the 100 most technologically significant products throughout the world. This technology also received the coveted Editor’s Choice Award as 2004’s “Most Promising New Technology” among the 100 contenders.
Jennifer Irlam is a communications specialist and writer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington.
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