Outdoor perimeter security sensors a forty year perspective

Outdoor perimeter security sensors have played, and continue to play, an important role in the security of critical assets and VIP residents over the past 40 years. In many ways outdoor security sensor technology can be described as “Slow-Tech” in a “High-Tech” world. In “High-Tech” we can expect a new product every few months with product lifetimes of one to two years. In the “Slow-Tech” world of outdoor security it typically takes two to three years to develop a new product and another two to three years to get the product approved by the user community. Fortunately once approved these products have a lifetime of ten to twenty years. The Carnahan Conference has provided an important venue for the introduction of new sensor technologies as they emerge from R&D, are tested by various agencies, and are introduced into the “real world” of outdoor security. The harsh realities of the outdoor environment and the wide range of threats faced by these sensors provide many challenges that have been the topic of many of the learned papers. The Carnahan conference provides an opportunity for the users of the technology to relate their experience to those who wish to introduce new technologies. Through the sponsorship of the IEEE these papers form a unique point of reference for the development of new sensors. Forty years ago most of the important players were large aerospace companies. Many of the sensor technologies used in perimeter security evolved from military developments. As one of the dominant users of perimeter security equipment, the US military sponsored much of this early development. This “mil-spec” environment had a profound effect on these developments which in many cases has survived to this day and is part of the heritage of the present world on outdoor perimeter security. These companies gave way to a number of small “spin-off” one product companies where the technologies were exploited. More recently most of one product companies have merged into larger “one-stop-shopping” companies. This paper describes the many changes in technology, the business models and the user community over the past 40 years and concludes with a prediction as to what the next 10 years will bring.