TECHNOLOGY
By Jodi Prill, Associate Editor
Hold Baggage Screening
Three manufacturers
of EDS discuss current technology, look to the future
As airports continue to research and examine the explosives detection
equipment (EDS) that will be necessary to meet Transportation Security
Administration requirements for hold baggage screening, equipment manufacturers
continue to enhance existing technology as well as explore new avenues.
AIRPORT BUSINESS magazine recently spoke with representatives from InVision
Technologies, Inc., L-3 Security & Detection Systems, and Smiths Heimann
regarding current deployments and future possibilities.
INVISION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
InVision is the manufacturer of the TSA-certified CTX machines. David
Pillor, senior VP of marketing and sales, explains the CTX 9000 is designed
to be integrated into the baggage system. As airports automate the security
process and move toward in-line screening, he says many of the CTX 2500s
and CTX 5500s, designed as freestanding units, will be replaced by the
CTX 9000.
Pillor says the CTX machines scan baggage for explosives by using "CT
scan cross sectional images" and can process some 500 bags per hour.
One advancement InVision is exploring is reducing the false-positive rate
of the machines. "A false-positive rate is the number of times out
of 100 that a machine finds something in a bag that's suspicious, Pillor
says. "Our false alarm rate is about 20 percent.
"We are developing improved software algorithms that would take that
false alarm rate down maybe as much as in half. We use post-detection
classifiers, or PDCs to analyze electronically with the computer every
false alarm to further rule them out. This software will be tested by
the TSA, and that will probably happen between now and the end of the
year."
InVision purchased Yxlon, a German security technology firm, which provides
a complementary technology to CT scanners called x-ray diffraction. "We
will install those [as part of an in-line system] and the alarm bags from
a CT will go to an Yxlon machine. This machine has a very low false alarm
rate and actually does a chemical analysis of the threat area in the bag
to confirm if it's a false alarm or a real alarm. It will run about 250
bags per hour."
InVision is currently in a design process that, if successful, would create
a retrofit that could increase the speed of the CTX machines within the
next two years, according to Pillor. "So as airport passenger load
grows, we want to be in a position to have the machines processing more
bags."
L-3 SECURITY & DETECTION SYSTEMS
L-3 has a number of models for hold baggage screening. According to Paul
Hurd, technical marketing manager, the fastest and most easily integrated
of these is the eXaminer 3D 6000, which was specifically designed to be
a high-speed, high-throughput in-line x-ray inspection system.
"The technology is based on computer tomography," Hurd explains.
"It's unique in that it uses a thin beam and a helical scan - basically,
you're able to take many slices in a single rotation and you never stop
this rotation. As the bag moves down the belt, the rotation is taking
multiple slices at the same time. You don't have to stop and start the
bag within the tunnel to take individual slices. In one continuous pass
the operator has all the slices available to them instantaneously and
they can call them up one at a time. The 3D aspect will allow you to view
the bag from any angle."
This machine does not need a human operator, Hurd says. "At that
point, the machine is making a 'go/no go' decision on its own. It's looking
for the specific explosive material the TSA is looking for. From that
moment on, what is done with that information is up to the protocol of
TSA. In one instance, the protocol could be regardless of what an operator
may or may not think. If the machine has found an object it does not like
in the bag, that bag undergoes further scrutiny with, say, a chemical
analyzer. In another instance of the protocol, you could say, once the
bag has been scanned, you do have an image the operator can look at to
try to resolve that image - determine that it is not a threat. So, depending
on what the TSA protocol is, the machine can be used either way."
There is another version of CT that L-3 is currently employing, which
Hurd refers to as "the little brother of the 6000." The eXaminer
1000 was developed under a program called ARGUS with the FAA before TSA
was created. "The difference is the 1000 is designed to be a standalone
machine," Hurd says. "It's relatively low in throughput at about
a little more than 50 bags per hour. The detection performance is the
same, meaning it's certified (TSA)."
Another machine developed under the ARGUS program is the VCT30. "Instead
of using a helical scan," Hurd says, "this uses a slicing CT
scanner that has been combined with a single view dual energy x-ray system.
If we get out of the certified realm, there's another category of systems
that most of the rest of the world uses called AT (Advanced Technolo-gy).
We basically took the best of the AT machine and combined it with CT to
give you the best of both worlds. The VCT30 is TSA certified, stand-alone,
and has a relatively low throughput - 78 bags per hour. "However,"
Hurd adds, "there is a program right now to turn the VCT30 into a
VCT60. Basically it will speed it up - 30 is the speed that the CT rotates
at, so we're going from 30 rpm to 60 rpm. This allows us to take twice
as many slices in the same period of time. The VCT60 should get us to
about 120 bags per hour. At about that level, a standalone machine is
operationally acceptable for low-throughput airports."
Patricia Krall, VP of strategic development, says L-3 is particularly
looking at ways to increase the detection rate, while decreasing the false-alarm
rate. "We continue to look at new technology," she says, "but
a lot of it's in the very preliminary stages."
Krall adds that the company is exploring ways to integrate existing technology
to "address the TSA concerns about limited airport space at checkpoints
and in the baggage rooms. We want to integrate and reduce the footprint
to provide additional security without impacting the airport footprint,"
she says.
The Transportation Security Administration has ordered new CTX 9000 DSi explosives detection systems from InVision Technologies, Inc. for integration into the baggage handling systems of U.S. airports. The delivery order for the new systems is valued at $54.8 million and is an initial order under a broader three-year agreement with the TSA. InVision expects to ship all units under the initial order during the third and fourth quarters of 2003.