L-3 Communications’s Security and Detection Systems subsidiary has been selected by the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA) to provide 30 state-of-the-art prototype cargo container security devices for field testing. L-3 is one of two companies downselected from an original five to receive Phase II funding from HSARPA for the development of the cargo container security devices. The cost-share program uses government and corporate funding valued at over $5m. L-3's Advanced Container Security Device (ACSD) will continually track the sequence of a cargo container's journey from the moment it is sealed until it is released at its final destination. Designed to automatically identify tampering at any point in the container's passage, ACSD will detect breaches and unauthorized access, alerting authorities to potential threats of national security, contraband smuggling, theft, human trafficking and stowaways. Using advanced sensor design and fusion techniques, ACSD is designed to provide a true depiction of a container's condition at every step in the supply chain, in real-time, through a communications network that will make data available to
shippers, carriers and law enforcement. In addition to monitoring the container's physical status, ACSD will indicate any breach of the container through walls, doors or floors, and detect the presence of human beings inside the container, which can give officials an early warning of potential cargo theft, product tampering, or the presence of contraband, or explosives and other threat materials.