Qualcomm partners with UNLV for security research

Jace Radke

Monday, Oct. 18, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.

UNLV is teaming with the mobile communications systems of Qualcomm to research and develop ways that communication technology can be used to protect the country from terrorist attacks.

Qualcomm plans to build an expanded operations center in Las Vegas that will also house a research center in partnership with the UNLV Institute of Security Studies, said Paul Jacobs, president of Qualcomm's wireless and Internet group.

"We're still looking for a site, but we are aggressively looking to have the center in place in 2006," Jacobs said. "It will increase our presence in Las Vegas from about 15 employees to about 100."

Currently Qualcomm is utilizing technology to track commercial trucking for companies across the country. The system can be used to send emergency notifications to truckers, track their progress as they make their way across the country and even to remotely shut down trucks that are hijacked or stolen.

Lee Van Arsdale, executive director of the UNLV Institute of Security Studies, and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., say they want to research whether such technology can be used to track and safeguard dangerous materials that could be targets tempting to terrorists.

Jacobs said the technology could be applied so those monitoring trucks would know whether cargo is illegally accessed. Drivers could be assigned codes that would need to be logged into a computer before starting a truck with a dangerous substance on board in order to cut down on hijacking, Jacobs said.

"With this partnership, Qualcomm and UNLV will make our country safer," Reid said. "In addition to addressing an important homeland security need, this center will bring more technology jobs to the Las Vegas region and increase UNLV's role in developing cutting edge counter-terrorism technologies."

When it opens, the new center will work in conjunction with Qualcomm's main operations center in San Diego, and will act as a fully redundant networking center.