THOUSANDS OF security professionals – including staff from FTL Secure Solutions – representing more than 70 countries descended on London’s Olympia from 27-28 September as the Nineteen Group-organised International Security Expo – for which Security Matters served as Lead Media Partner – returned to showcase the very latest technological innovations designed to protect people, businesses and the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure.
With more than 300 companies demonstrating thousands of the most cutting-edge products and solutions, attendees were provided with an unmissable opportunity to gain in-person demonstrations and insights, in turn helping them to understand how technology can meet current and future challenges.
Demonstrating the event’s invaluable role in facilitating new product launches, many exhibitors took the opportunity to unveil their latest innovations, sharing all-new technologies and refreshed solutions to a packed audience of buyers from the UK and international territories.
Among them, Apstec Systems announced the launch of a new version of its Human Security Radar. Version 4 of the innovative system provides high-throughput, low-contact security screening and ensures a “seamless” security experience for people being screened. It delivers “proven and effective” functionality in an attractive, smaller and more mobile unit that’s perfectly suited for deployments at prestigious locations.
Elsewhere on the show floor, Apex Vanguard demonstrated its Hecate ruggedised tactical camera system – a specialised IP67-rated multi-platform camera system featuring a wide view day camera, IR night camera and a FLIR thermal imaging camera all-in-one system. It’s supported by an integrated COFDM microwave transmission module with all the video and data transmitted to a fully functional ergonomic hand-held receiver unit.
Demonstrating two new product launches, LINEV Systems UK revealed its PROTEUS range of baggage X-ray security systems. The range is fully equipped with the latest Artificial Intelligence features to help detect pyrotechnics, flares and smoke bombs.
The company also showcased its Clearpass C.I, itself an X-ray scanner designed for smaller spaces. With a footprint of just 0.85 m², the technology offers “exceptional” mobility and “the fastest scan acquisition time available on the market”. It’s available with advanced contraband detection software and designed to detect contraband ‘on’ or ‘in’ the human body. By allowing selective area-focused screening, the solution also reduces screening and overexposure to other parts of the body.
Speaking about this year’s event, Tim Betts (sales and marketing professional at LINEV Systems UK, said: “International Security Expo is an essential event for us. The engaging show floor packed with attendees allowed us to network and generate new leads following our rebranding. Simply put, the International Security Expo is the flagship event for us in the UK.”
Analytics and investigations
X-ray capabilities were also the focus of the Videray stand where the company announced its new PX Ultra – the “most powerful” handheld backscatter X-ray imager on the market. After nearly three years of development and testing, the PX Ultra uses the first 160 keV X-ray source, enabling operators to see through up to 10 mm of steel. It features the same ergonomic form factor and intuitive software used by the popular PX1, reducing its scatter and leakage measurements by a factor of two.
Meanwhile, Canadian defence and security start-up, Patagona Technologies demonstrated its THREATDESK analytics and investigations platform. This solution provides OSINT analysts with the tools to combat co-ordinated information operations by state and non-state actors. It allows analysts to gain deep insights into online threats such as co-ordinated influence operations, online radicalisation and information security threats by dint of leveraging hundreds of online data sources from news, forums and social media platforms. Once collected, it uses advanced Artificial Intelligence methods to identify and respond to co-ordinated inauthentic behaviours.
Across the show floor, product demonstrations helped to bring the latest security technologies and solutions to life. In the LPCB Live Testing Lab, crowds gathered to witness a team of professional forced entry specialists put a range of physical security products through their paces.
Located in the show’s Perimeter Protection Zone, supported by the Perimeter Security Suppliers Association and sponsored by Barkers Fencing, the line-up included products from exhibitors including Eagle Automation, CLD Fencing, the Bradbury Group, Jacksons Fencing, Lochrin Bain and Surelock McGill.
Elsewhere, the Product Innovation Theatre provided a vital platform for the likes of QinetiQ, Greyscan Australia, T3K.AI, Pimloc Limited, Everbridge and Global Security Solutions to share an in-depth look at the rationale behind their latest innovations and the challenges they’re designed to meet. For example, Smiths Detection showcased its Canary Biological Detection Technology, which uses a genetically engineered immune cell called a ‘biosensor’ to identify and bind to a specific target. When a pathogen is found, a reaction starts causing the biosensor to luminesce. By measuring light output from the cell, it can determine if the target biological is present in the sample.
Returning to the Product Innovation Theatre on Day Two, members of the Defence and Security Accelerator team introduced three suppliers funded under the Innovative Research Cell 2020 for Explosives and Weapons Detection. The suppliers – Iconal Technology, Fraunhofer UK and IRSweep and Metrasens – shared insights into the innovative projects funded through this competition and the opportunities for like-minded businesses to become involved.
