System and method for detection of concealed cargo in a vehicle by center of mass measurement

A system for detecting concealed cargo and/or concealed passengers in a vehicle, the system comprising:

• a vehicle identifying system configured to obtain weight distribution data for the vehicle;
• a weight scale system configured to measure a center of mass of the vehicle to obtain an actual center of mass position of the vehicle;
• a processor configured to:
• receive vehicle loading data;
• predict a center of mass position of the vehicle using the vehicle loading data and the weight distribution data of the vehicle;
• compare the actual center of mass position of the vehicle with the predicted center of mass position of the vehicle;
• and
• provide an error signal if the actual center of mass position of the vehicle departs from the predicted center of mass position of the vehicle by at least a predetermined threshold, the error signal being representative of concealed cargo and/or concealed passengers in the vehicle.

A shared network system comprising a plurality of geographically separate systems for detecting concealed cargo and/or concealed passengers in a vehicle, each system in said plurality of systems comprising:

• a vehicle identifying system configured to obtain weight distribution data for the vehicle;
• a weight scale system configured to measure a center of mass of the vehicle to obtain an actual center of mass position of the vehicle;
• a processor configured to:
• receive vehicle loading data;
• predict as center of mass position of the vehicle using the vehicle loading data and the weight distribution data of the vehicle;
• compare the actual center of mass position of the vehicle with the predicted center of mass position of the vehicle;
• provide an error signal if the actual center of mass position of the vehicle departs from the predicted center of mass position of the vehicle by at least a predetermined threshold, the error signal being representative of concealed cargo and/or concealed passengers in the vehicle;
• and
• store information about the vehicle after validating the provided error signal, wherein the shared network system is configured to share the information about the vehicle between the plurality of systems over a networked connection.