A New Radar Scanner Can Detect 3D-Printed Guns

When Cody Wilson's "Liberator" gun made it possible for anyone with an internet connection and 3D printer to become a weapons manufacturer, lawmakers and police, naturally, were wringing their hands. Especially because 3D-printed plastic guns could potentially sneak past a metal detector and right into, say, an airport.

But now, a UK company is getting ready to sell the first scanner that can detect 3D-printed guns, using a mix of radar technology and artificial intelligence.

The technology was developed by researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University and helped along by funding from city police. The developers inked a deal with scanner/detector company Radio Physics Solutions to make the device commercially available, as soon as this spring. They’re currently running a campaign on the crowdfunding site Syndicate Room to hurry along that process.

Using radar to detect weapons is a relatively new approach, and has piqued the interest of law enforcement agencies. Instead of using x-ray imaging or invasive searches, it works more like the radar guns police use to catch speeding vehicles. The device has a built-in computer that uses artificial intelligence to analyze low-power, millimeter-wave radar signals that are reflected off an object. The machine compares signal patterns against previously detected items to determine if the object is a threat or not.

Weapons like firearms or bombs give off different radar signatures than everyday items like cell phones or keys. So, police could potentially scan a crowd of people and know who's got a knife under their coat. And the system can “learn” to look for specific threats—like a 3D-printed gun.

“It’s really a combination of a radar system and an AI-based computer system,” lead researcher Nick Bowring explained in a university news release. “It would have been unthinkable to make it just five years ago because the computing power and hardware were just not there.”

There are a two prototypes: a handheld device and a long-range stationary scanner that can detect weapons from 27 yards away. "They can be used covertly or overtly for checkpoints, mass transit points, shopping centres, stadia or other security sensitive areas," researchers said.

Unsurprisingly, the technology raised red flags for privacy advocates when the scanner was first unveiled in November. But the developers insist the device is safe, and doesn’t violate privacy because it doesn't form an image of the person's body.

This month, Radio Physics Solutions partnered up with the UK's National Ballistics Intelligence Service to test the device, and found it was successfully able to accurately spot concealed plastic guns, hailing it as the "first and only detector that we know to exist that can detect this format of firearm.” The company says law enforcement agencies in the US, UK, and Middle East have expressed interest in buying the detectors once it comes off the production line.