Panoram's PV230 Display Enhances Understanding of Polygraph Tests for USAF Office of Special Investigations

As Chief of the Polygraph Program for the USAF Office of Special Investigations, Special Agent H. David Fuller Jr. oversees a department that reviews more than 5,000 polygraph charts each year. The reviews are mandatory, intended to insure the quality control of tests conducted by numerous Air Force examiners located in diverse locations throughout the world. "Until we review it, it's not final," Fuller explains.

To handle such a substantial workload accurately and expediently, the Polygraph Program enlists leading-edge technologies, systems and processes. For example, the bulky analog instruments and paper plotters used by examiners in years past have been replaced with laptop computers and network-enabled workflows, allowing a new level of mobility and efficiency. For quality control, the polygraph charts are now transmitted and analyzed digitally. "A test can be done in Japan, the chart can be sent over to us and we can have it reviewed in hours, instead of the weeks that it used to take," says Fuller.

To further enhance their ability to process this digital data, the Polygraph Program recently purchased four of Panoram's PV230 DSK desktop display systems for use at their headquarters at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. The displays are connected to deskside PC computers via COTS graphics cards that have three video output channels to drive the three LCD panels of the PV230 display. The result is an ultra-wide image delivering 3072 x 768 pixels of resolution and 324 square inches of "desktop" real estate.

The primary application used by Fuller's team on the displays is a special software suite from Lafayette Instrument Company designed for analyzing electronic polygraph charts. Secondarily, the displays are used for other office productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word, Excel and others.

"The wide screen allows our examiners to view an entire polygraph chart at once. In the past, using standard computer monitors, they constantly had to scroll back and forth to see the data," says Fuller. "If you were to print a traditional polygraph chart, it is almost identical to the size of the display."

Fuller also points out a feature that was critical in their selection of the PV230 for the Polygraph Program - the very small amount of separation (11 mm) between the three LCD panels. "Technically, we could use three separate monitors for this application, but it would have a big gap between the screens. The PV230 has a single enclosure and provides a more continuous image. This is really important for our understanding of the data."

In addition to alleviating the frustration of constant scrolling, the size of the PV230 screen also helps in a polygraph reviewer's understanding of data. "One of the major issues facing the polygraph community is how to detect physiological counter-measures from a test subject.

With this display, an examiner gets a better global view of a chart, which enhances their ability to see variances throughout the test period," says Fuller. He also indicates that the displays have been beneficial in allowing them to access and view data from both their current database and from their older database. "Our work flow is now much more paperless."