WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Sept. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they're working to develop detectors for improvised explosive devices and hidden bombs that can penetrate shielding materials.
Scientists at Purdue University are taking part in the effort to develop devices that use sound and radio waves to detect the presence of hidden explosives, a university release said Tuesday.
Purdue is part of a $7 million initiative funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research.
The aim is to use sound and radio waves to penetrate objects, producing a new set of waves that bounce back to identify underlying materials.
"You want to get energy into the material, have it move around to pick up information and then be re-radiated so that we can sense what's inside," said Douglas Adams, a Purdue professor of mechanical engineering.
A major challenge is developing systems that use both radio and sound waves, which travel at different speeds, researchers say.
Because the two types of waves have different frequency ranges, they can reveal different kinds of information about an object to more accurately detect improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, they say.
