System and method to detect anomalies

1. A system for detecting anomalies concealed upon a person, the system comprising:

a detection probe having an electromagnetic transmitter and an electromagnetic receiver, the electromagnetic transmitter is configured to emit electromagnetic pulses, the electromagnetic receiver is configured to sample electromagnetic pulses from the electromagnetic receiver at specified times within a waveform window;

an objective optic incorporated in the detection probe, the objective optic configured to direct the pulsed electromagnetic radiation emitted by the transmitter to a concealment stack and;

the objective optic being configured to receive and direct to the receiver reflections of the concealment stack at a defined distance, wherein the detection probe may be focused at a depth of concealed skin of the person without the exterior of the detection probe contacting a top of the concealment stack;

the transmitter and receiver configured in a monostatic reflection geometry with respect to an objective optic; and

a time domain data acquisition system in communication with the receiver, the time domain data acquisition system configured to capture reflections from a range thickness of the concealment stack and generate a returned waveform, the waveform window having the reflection time corresponding to the focus of the objective optic

wherein the time domain data acquisition system is configured to determine by analyzing the returned waveform that the one or more intereferent components of the concealment stack is smaller in either volume, density, or mass than a quantitative threshold to be considered an anomaly;

wherein the quantitative threshold is based on thickness, lateral extent, volume, density, or mass to be considered an anomaly;

an indicator indicating when an operator of the detection probe is at an appropriate distance from the concealment stack to obtain a valid measurement, wherein the appropriate distance is 100 mm or less.

2. The system of claim 1 , where the concealment stack over the skin of the person further comprises clothing or coverings, wherein time domain data acquisition system determines the concealment stack to not contain an anomaly or a shield.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the clothing or coverings further comprise natural or synthetic cloth, leather, rubber, vinyl, paper, plastic and/or other fibers, sheets or weaves.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the concealment stack further comprises one or more intereferent components located at any position within the concealment stack and composed of material of the same type as an anomaly or shield, wherein the time domain data acquisition system is configured to determine that the intereferent is smaller in either volume, density, or mass than a threshold value to be considered an anomaly.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the concealment stack further comprises one or more anomaly placed at any level within the concealment stack, where the anomaly is an object of greater thickness, lateral extent, volume, density, or mass than a threshold value.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the time domain data acquisition system is configured to choose a quantitative threshold for thickness, lateral extent; volume, density, or mass to be considered an anomaly by scaling thresholds to electromagnetic properties of the anomaly material in comparison to a benign material in the concealment stack and evaluating the measurement from the system as an anomaly when the waveform contains one or more features indicating that an object within the concealment stack exceeds the scaled thresholds.

7. The system of claim 1 , where the electromagnetic pulses span the terahertz spectral region of 0.04 to 4 THz.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a light source that projects an illuminated pattern onto the concealment stack on the person under test indicating a region of inspection.

9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising optical fibers connected to the electromagnetic transmitter and electromagnetic receiver, wherein femtosecond laser pulses are directed from a source to the electromagnetic transmitter and the electromagnetic receiver by the optical fibers.

10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a compensator located between the source and the electromagnetic transmitter or electromagnetic receiver, wherein the compensator compensates the pulses so that the pulses are sufficiently short at the electromagnetic transmitter or electromagnetic receiver.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the compensator is a grating sequence, a prism sequence, a grism sequence, a fiber bragg grating, or anomalous dispersion fiber.

12. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor connected to the detection probe, wherein the sensor is configured to provided coordinates of the detection probe's position in one or more dimensions of space or angle.

13. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor connected to the detection probe, wherein the sensor is configured to detect in a different modality than the waveforms reflected from the concealment stack and interrogate a substantially same region of concealment stack on the person.

14. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a secondary transmitter connected to the detection, wherein the secondary transmitter if configured to emit alpha, beta, x-ray, or gamma rays.

15. A method using a dynamically positioned detection probe for evaluating a time domain reflected waveform for criteria corresponding to features which indicate an anomaly in a region of a concealment stack on a person, the method comprising the steps of:

indicator indicating when an operator of the detection probe is at an appropriate distance from the concealment stack to obtain a valid measurement, wherein the appropriate distance is 100 mm or less;

illuminating a concealment stack with an electromagnetic pulse emitted by a transmitter and directed from the transmitter to the concealment stack by an objective optic, wherein the transmitter and objective optic are located within the detection probe;

directing reflections of the concealment stack to a receiver by the objective optic, the receiver being located within the dynamically positioned probed;

collecting the waveform by the receiver in the probe;

parsing the waveform into a candidate group of positive or negative going peaks corresponding to reflection interfaces within the concealment stack;

determining if an anomaly is present if one or more peaks within the candidate group quantitatively correspond to one or more thresholds computed from the amplitudes and/or one or more differences in time between one or more peaks in the candidate group

determining by analyzing the waveform that the one or more intereferent components of the concealment stack is smaller in either volume, density, or mass than a quantitative threshold to be considered an anomaly; and

wherein the quantitative threshold is based on thickness, lateral extent, volume, density, or mass to be considered an anomaly.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of deconvolving the waveform with a pre-recorded reference reflection waveform.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the pre-recorded reference reflection waveform is a single reflection from an air-metal interface.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of scaling the amplitude of the peaks as a function of a relative increase of the peaks in time with respect to a first peak in the waveform for compensating for a loss from intervening concealment as the thickness of the concealment stack increases.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of scaling the amplitude of the peaks as a function of a relative number after a first peak in the waveform for compensating for a loss from intervening concealment as the thickness of the concealment stack increases.

20. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of not evaluating a waveform if any peak in the waveform falls outside a window of minimum or maximum time for reducing a false alarm rate.

21. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the steps of:

ordering the peaks in the candidate group from lesser to greater time; and

determining if a difference in time between a first and a second peak exceeds a minimum threshold.

22. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of determining the presence of an anomaly if a positive going peak in the candidate group exceeds a threshold corresponding to a maximum expected reflection amplitude from a benign concealment, wherein additional peaks must be present after the positive going peak.