Year
1993
Abstract
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has developed a high-security fiber-optic seal that incorporates tamper- resistance features not available in commercial fiber-optic seals. The Python Seal is a passive fiberoptic loop seal designed to give indication of unauthorized entry. The seal includes a fingerprint feature that provides seal identity information in addition to the unique fiber-optic pattern created when the seal is installed. The fiber-optic cable used for the seal loop is produced with tamper-resistant features that increase the difficulty of attacking this component of a seal. A Seal Reader has been developed that records the seal signature and the fingerprint feature of the seal. A Correlator software program compares seal images to establish a match or mismatch. SNL also is developing a Polaroid Reader to permit hard copies of the seal patterns to be obtained directly from the seal.