The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS⁴⁾ at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) recently completed a product operational exercise for Xonar Technology’s XonarSafe technology, an RF-based detection system.

The two-part exercise included a demonstration of the technology in the company’s laboratory and observation of it in use at a concert at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Fla. During the exercise, the evaluation team observed pre-event  screening operations. The technology provides touchless scanning for weapons and is intended to eliminate the need to scan bags and outer garments separately, thus potentially decreasing the amount of time that venue patrons wait in security screening lines.The findings are available in a white paper published on the NCS⁴ website.

NCS⁴ partners with industry and technical experts to observe and exercise products in operational or simulated environments. The goal of the process and resulting white paper is to equip practitioners with the requisite knowledge to make informed procurement decisions and better understand the operational feasibility of products.

“Detection and screening technologies have rapidly evolved over the past several years, with solutions now integrating a multitude of sensors and artificial intelligence capabilities,” said Daniel Ward, NCS⁴ Director of Training and Exercise. “Through the Operational Exercise program, we are able to engage practitioners and solution providers to develop an understanding of how technical promise is translating to operational capability.”

While the focus of the scenario was the application and capability of the solution, the team also monitored the interaction of staff and spectators throughout the duration of the exercise. Each evaluator rated individual capabilities and provided additional qualitative feedback to document their experience with the technology.