Page 72 - Security Today, June 2018

THREAT DETECTION
THE MOST EFFECTIVE
DETECTION TECHNOLOGY
Universities nationwide are using Auburn-created Vapor Wake Technology to keep campuses safer By Janet McCoy
Michigan State University and Notre Dame are fierce competitors, but off the field, they are among uni- versity police departments nationwide who join forces by employing specially trained Vapor Wake K-9s with one goal: keeping campuses safe.
Along with Auburn University, whose faculty created the patented Vapor Wake technology, California State University Northridge (CSUN) and others have purchased canines or used this advanced canine detection on campuses.
MOST EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGY
Vapor Wake detection is a method of training and employing dogs for the detection of body-worn and hand-carried explosives. Developed and patented by Auburn University, Vapor Wake dogs are specially trained to continuously sample the air for an explosive target, then follow it to its source in real time, while the target is in motion.
While the dogs are commonly used at Amtrak stations, professional sports stadiums and in other crowded venues, Michigan State and Notre Dame are among a handful of universities which have purchased Vapor Wake canines to keep the public safe.
“Vapor Wake dogs are ideal for security in large event venue sce- narios,” said Dr. Paul Waggoner, co-director of Canine Performance
Sciences, a division of the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. “Auburn’s excited to know other universities are adopting Vapor Wake technology. It broadens the application and extends col- laboration and the science behind the detection.”
Waggoner, a canine behavioral scientist, says dogs, “represent the most capable and effective technology for the detection of most haz- ardous materials, particularly explosives.
“No instrumentation has been developed that is as capable as the dog, and certainly not as flexible as the dog, in terms of circumstances under which it can be used and its ability to detect an odor at very low concentration, and then, most importantly, track that odor to its source.”
Waggoner stresses that these dogs remain the most effective technology for detecting threats.
SOLVING THE PROBLEM
Waggoner, who is one of the creators of the Vapor Wake technology, said researchers and scientists were “presented the problem of how to better protect areas from hand carried and body-worn explosives.”
“We approached it by developing a canine detection technology solution (and) understanding the human thermal and aerodynamic wake that is emitted from a person,” Waggoner said. “Whether you’re
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