During the second period of the project the ENTRANCE consortium completed the assessment of the developed technologies and tools by carrying out field tests over three weeks in May 2023 in the seaport of Rijeka, Croatia with the operational and logistical support of RBI, MOF and MOI. The developed Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) technologies were tested on large containers on trucks to detect dangerous and illicit materials with minimum disruption of the cross-border flow of goods. Real targets, including guns, explosives, drugs, contraband, nuclear material and live radioactive sources were hidden in commercial containers to test the technologies in challenging, real-life scenarios.
In the framework of these field tests, X-ray image improvement, deep learning and de-overlapping of material discrimination organic/intermediate Z/metal were largely demonstrated and thus allowed to prove the performance of the “container wall removal” functionality of the tested tools. That functionality, in combination with the in-depth function, served to refine the operators’ reading of the container’s contents. Capabilities for discriminating objects one by one, and not only their 2D image superimposition, meant we could extend the material discrimination usefulness to the customs’ benefit.
The Rapidly Relocatable Tagged Neutron Inspection System (TNIS) was used to detect explosives, illicit drugs, toxic chemical agents and possibly contraband materials, and the photofission inspection system was deployed to detect Special Nuclear Material (SNM), thanks to a 7 MeV mobile accelerator - instead of a 9 MeV fixed installation as implemented in the preceding C-BORD project.
The trans-border control included a passive detection portal with a new fast RPM system development tested up to 30km/h.
An original method to control high-density iron ore field cargo was achieved by combining three technologies: 1) Declared vs Mass Measurement Comparison (DMMC) in real time; 2) Scattered Radiation Imaging (SRI) in real time; 3) Muons Scattering Imaging in second line.
These technologies and tools will have a crucial impact with operators as they will allow them to avoid having to unload containers (or at least significantly reduce the need to), thus reducing the time for manual checking, and will of course also be useful for training purposes.
ENTRANCE results were presented to the community in a Final Conference held on November 16th in Paris, France. The project was also featured in the EU-organized Security Research Event 2023 in October 2023 in Brussels, Belgium.
As a concluding note, it must be highlighted that starting a project in the context of the COVID pandemic, and concluding it with success while a war is raging in Ukraine i.e. at Europe’s doors, made for a not unsignificant challenge. Overcoming this challenge required in some circumstances exceptional efforts from the project partners – efforts that were carried out steadfastly and commendably.
