Liberty Defense Holdings Ltd. (“Liberty” or the “Company“) (TSXV: SCAN) (OTCQB: LDDFF) (FRANKFURT: LD2A), a leading technology provider of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based next generation detection solutions for protecting secure locations against prohibited weapons and other threats, is pleased to announce that it has received a contract from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for $1.25M with options for a total value of $3.86M.
The purpose of this Research and Development contract is to provide the TSA with Open Architecture (OA) software, end-to-end engineering development, and the maturation of the High-Definition Advanced Imaging Technology (HD-AIT) Wideband Upgrade Kit that is anticipated to offer enhanced detection and an improved passenger experience.
The TSA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for all security screening conducted at airports in the United States. TSA’s On-Person Screening program aims to detect a growing range of threats, with fewer false alarms and less physical contact. Per the TSA, Open Architecture is a technology-design approach for software and hardware that uses widely accepted standards to ensure interoperability across tools and platforms regardless of the technology designer, manufacturer, or supplier.
“We’re honored to receive this award from TSA, as it represents further validation of Liberty’s commitment to advancing the agency’s ability to detect emerging and evolving threats concealed on-person while enabling the efficient and effective use of screening resources at the airport checkpoint,” says Liberty President and CTO Michael Lanzaro. “Liberty’s market and technology focus is to provide superior threat detection performance, including the detection of metallic and non-metallic threats, as part of an open-standards people screening solution using next-generation AI and millimeter-wave imaging. The HD-AIT Upgrade Kit will provide advanced threat detection and give TSA the opportunity to bring forth third-party providers that could provide other operational capabilities at the checkpoint.”
Lanzaro further adds, “We’re excited about TSA’s vision for the future and remain steadfast on executing a strategy that breaks away from the traditional approach of providing proprietary security screening solutions to aviation and even the commercial markets.”
Liberty previously licensed millimeter wave-based, High-Definition Advanced Imaging Technology (HD-AIT) body scanner and shoe screener technologies in March of 2021. Both technologies were developed by researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), funded by U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) on behalf of the Transportation Security Administration mission. Liberty is now developing the technology in house with its experienced team of engineers.
