High-power acoustic sensor developed to detect stowaways
New technology has been developed to address the illegal movement across borders of people hidden in containers. SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, in comments about today's technology efforts, said the ability to see inside sealed cargo was important. "With 200 million shipping containers being moved around the world annually, fast and effective ways of scanning the cargo are needed." They said that "Sensing through the walls of metal cargo containers can be done with gamma rays, however this is not safe when considering the possibility of people being stowed away inside these containers as a means of travel." They said that "The only current technology that can safely sense people behind the metal walls is acoustic."