PARSEC is a Horizon Europe project that focuses on parcel and letter security. The multinational consortium, representing Belgium, The Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, Italy, Hungary, Switzerland and the UK, aims to upgrade existing postal and express courier services. From drug trafficking to explosives, the project’s set of solutions will protect these services from criminal or terrorist acts.
The current state of postal and express services is characterised by slowness, unpredictability and expensiveness. Inspection systems in the postal and express domain are still at the formative stage, however, the power of reliable data analytics can be exploited to produce next-generation, risk assessment solutions. PARSEC seeks to provide these, while strengthening the link between them and detection technologies, to improve the identification of threats and illicit goods. To achieve this, the technologies of multi-energy photon counting detectors, neutron-induced gamma-ray spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction will be combined, to create a detection architecture that can produce the most prepared and resilient postal and express services for the future. Last but not least, through the exchange of the vital, risk-related information that they hold, police authorities, customs, postal and express operators will play an integral role in developing PARSEC into a fully systematic approach for inspection.
TWI Hellas’ role on the project comprises: integrating state-of-the-art, multi-band energy-resolved, photon-counting x-ray detectors into the system to achieve fast and accurate material distinguishing; delivering a scalable, fast x-ray scanning system for the inspection process of postal items in collaboration with Direct Conversion; and constructing the modular built system to promote easy transportation and reassembly on site.
Partners: CBRA Services, BPost, Police Federale Belge, Service Public Federal Finances, Ministerie van Financien, Transported Asset Protection Association EMEA, Dynaxion, The National Police of the Netherlands, Koninklijke PostNL, Technische Universiteit Delft, Direct Conversion, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Poste Italiane, Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal, Cross Border Research Association, University de Lausanne, Home Office, Halo X-Ray Technologies Limited, and TWI Hellas.
PARSEC is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme.