Wireless buoys May keep waterways safe.

• Author: Beidel, Eric
• Position: Defense Technology Newswire

* The Coast Guard is looking into the idea of using a system of buoys outfitted with sensors to monitor threats in waterways.

The service has had preliminary discussions with Intellicheck Mobilisa, a Washington-based firm that has been working under a Navy contract to develop a security system using these floating bomb detectors. The buoys include sensors that can detect materials above, on or below the water's surface, including chemicals used to make a bomb.

The concept began as a way to equip ships at sea with wireless Internet, officials said. The focus shifted to buoys that could detect biological, chemical and radioactive materials. Now the company has deployed buoys in the Potomac River outside Washington, D.C., and in Puget Sound near Olympia, Wash. They can be...