CAST – A Next-Generation Threat Detection System to Prevent Mass Casualty Attacks to Soft Targets and Protect Citizens’ Lives

在竞技场和体育场等大型场地举行的活动吸引了数万甚至数十万人。**然而，这些城市“软目标”及其周边最近变得容易受到恶意的大规模伤亡袭击。**发生在曼彻斯特体育馆和法国国家足球场的致命暴行是恐怖主义对软目标日益增长的全球威胁的生动例子。**这些极端主义恐怖袭击杀害了包括儿童在内的无辜者，并导致严重的经济和社会混乱。** 2017年，英国发生了包括曼彻斯特爆炸案在内的5起恐怖袭击，造成35亿英镑的经济损失\[RAND Europe\]。欧洲最近的六次大规模伤亡袭击造成188人死亡，808人受伤\[Heritage Foundation\]。**现有的解决方案** **，如基于门户的探测器（无论是金属探测还是毫米波成像仪）对外部周界筛查无效。**它们是缓慢的、劳动密集型的、高度公开的。他们要求个人放弃他们的财产，迫使他们通过一个不切实际，昂贵的门户，并创造了一个目标本身。无人机、闭路电视、保安和K9装置只是观察手段，并不能探测到威胁。因此，在威胁实现之前，在不破坏人员或场地自由流动的情况下，保护“城市软目标”周边的需求越来越大。该项目将开发CAST - **，这是一种新型的、隐蔽的、大规模伤亡威胁检测系统，该系统基于处理嵌入到建筑环境中的先进铁磁传感器网络阵列的信号，以自动检测威胁。与视频管理系统集成，CAST的创新系统将在警报触发后“标记和跟踪”嫌疑人，允许安全人员在距离场地足够远的地方拦截个人，以防止致命袭击。然而，可靠而准确地检测来自建筑环境的威胁构成了重大的技术挑战，特别是区分具有相似磁特征或外部干扰源的良性物体。**Metrasens在开发世界领先的屡获殊荣的铁磁检测解决方案方面取得了成功的记录，目前我们出口到44个国家。**这个“创新英国”项目将使我们获得巨大的全球出口市场，并帮助解决政府打击恐怖主义的首要任务。项目后5年，我们预计将分别产生累计收入7380万英镑和利润1480万英镑，进而创造74个技术岗位。**全球有大量的城市软目标，该项目将显著促进英国出口，提高公民安全，保护基础设施

Events at large venues like arenas and stadia attract tens or even hundreds of thousands of people. **However, these urban 'soft targets' and their perimeters have recently become vulnerable to malicious mass casualty attacks.** The deadly atrocities at Manchester Arena and France's National Football Stadium are graphic examples of the increasing global threat of terrorism on soft targets. **These extremist terrorist attacks kill innocent people including children and lead to severe economic and social disruption.** In 2017, the five terror attacks in the UK, including the Manchester Bombing, led to economic losses of £3.5bn \[RAND Europe\]. The last six mass casualty attacks in Europe resulted in 188 deaths and 808 injuries \[Heritage Foundation\].**Existing solutions** **such as portal-based detectors (whether metal detection or millimetre wave imagers) are ineffective for outside perimeter screening.** They are slow, labour-intensive and highly overt. They require individuals to divest their possessions, forcing them through a portal which becomes impractical, costly and creates a target in itself. Drones, CCTV, security guards and K9 units are merely observational methods and do not detect threats.**There is thus a large and growing need** to protect the perimeter of 'urban soft targets', before a threat can be realised, without causing disruption to the free flow of people or the venue.This project will develop CAST - **a novel, covert, mass casualty threat detection system based on processing signals from a networked array of advanced ferromagnetic sensors embedded into the built environment, to automatically detect threats.** Integrated with a video management system, CAST's innovative system will 'tag and track' a suspect once an alert has been triggered, allowing security operatives to intercept the individual far enough from the venue to prevent deadly attacks.However, detecting threats from the built environment reliably and accurately poses significant technical challenges, especially to discriminate against benign objects with similar magnetic signatures or interference from external sources. **Metrasens has a successful track-record of developing world-leading, award-winning ferromagnetic detection solutions and we currently export across 44 countries.** This Innovate UK project will allow us to capture a huge global export market and help address the government's top priority to fight terrorism.5 years post-project, we expect to generate cumulative revenues and profit of £73.8m and £14.8m respectively, in turn creating 74 skilled jobs. **With a vast number of urban soft targets worldwide, this project will significantly boost UK exports, increase safety of citizens and protect infrastructure.**