Reflective Particle Technology for Identification of Critical Components

Reflective Particle Tags were developed for uniquely identifying individual strategic weapons that would be counted in order to verify arms control treaties. These tags were designed to be secure from copying and transfer even after being left under the control of a very determined adversary for a number of years. This paper discusses how this technology can be applied in other applications requiring confidence that a piece of equipment, such as a seal or a component of a secure container, has not been replaced with a similar item. The hardware and software needed to implement this technology are discussed, and guidelines for the design of systems that rely on these or similar randomly formed features for security applications are presented. Substitution of identical components is one of the easiest ways to defeat security seals, secure containers, verification instrumentation, and similar equipment. This technology, when properly applied, provides a method to counter this defeat scenario. This paper presents a method for uniquely identifying critical security related equipment. Guidelines for implementing identification systems based on reflective particles or similar random features without compromising their intrinsic security are discussed.