Tech Briefs Magazine - April 2023 - 54

SPINOFF
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To test the prototype version of FINDER, several NASA engineers, including Jim Lux (second from the
left), worked alongside DHS at the Virginia Task Force 1 Training Facility in Lorton, VA, to test how far
the device could see into rubble. (Image: Department of Homeland Security/John Price)
The company constructed additional
prototypes with the help of the designers
at NASA and continued to work with
Lux and JPL to get manufacturing going.
SpecOps saw several scenarios the
technology could be used for, such as
searching for people buried under snow
after an avalanche.
" The way they look for people in avalanches
right now is by sticking long poles
in and seeing if they hit you. It's a really
tedious process, " Lux said. " With FINDER,
you can put the sensor on a long rope and
drag it along the surface, looking for the
heartbeats under the snow. "
After FINDER was completed, Lux
moved on to other projects at NASA, but
SpecOps kept working at it. X3 FINDER,
the latest variant, has differences from the
original NASA-designed version. Housed
in a bright-red case, X3 FINDER is much
lighter than the prototypes, weighing in at
only 13 pounds, and is more capable, able
to conduct a full scan in under 30 seconds,
compared to the 90 the original took. An
advanced model of the X3 FINDER called
FINDER MK4 is even lighter and interfaces
to iOS and Android phones.
Of the two companies that partnered in
the program, SpecOps is the only company
still producing a FINDER derivative.
Long after its initial request for a
new tool, FEMA deployed X3 FINDER
in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian
in 2019, assisting in recovery after the
Category 5 storm.
54
All of SpecOps' sales have been to local
or national government authorities. One
of the company's most notable non-military
sales is to the fire and rescue department
in Orange County, CA. SpecOps has
also taken FINDER international. In addition
to having sales offices in Singapore
and Sweden, it's sold the product to public
safety departments in countries such as the
United Kingdom, France, Norway, Saudi
Arabia, and the Philippines.
Garulay said the initial sales from
FINDER are funding additional detection
devices intended for police use,
such as Cyclops ID, a handheld device
that detects movement through walls via
Doppler radar and can locate subjects in
three seconds.
" Same principle, just in a different
form, " Garulay said.
Across the world, FINDER devices are
being kept in reserve and demonstrating
their usefulness in the meantime. Both
Garulay and Lux think this collaboration
between NASA and private industry will
save hundreds of lives.
" It's rewarding to work with these
licensees. They're the ones in touch
with the users, learning about how they
work or any issues they may have, " Lux
said. " They can take a concept that has
a lot of warts and work on it a lot easier
than NASA can. "
For more information, visit https://
spinoff.nasa.gov/FINDER-Finds-ItsWay-into-Rescuers-Toolkits.
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Tech Briefs Magazine - April 2023

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