Brijot Imaging Systems has introduced a new whole body imaging system based on its stand-off, passive millimeter wave checkpoint screening system that hopes to offer for passenger screening at U.S. and international airports.
The SafeScreen system is going through the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) process to be put on the Qualified Products List (QPL) for Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT), Mitchel Laskey, president and CEO of Brijot, tells TR2. TSA refers to the full body scanners as AIT systems.
Brijot is also eyeing opportunities elsewhere in the world but he says TSA’s stamp of approval is important in selling any system to friendly nations.
The announcement is obviously timely, given the failed Christmas day bombing attempt aboard a U.S.-bound passenger plane although the company has been working on the development of a portal system since 2008. Brijot began work on the current system once TSA began the process to create a QPL for whole body imaging systems, Laskey says.
Brijot’s new system has several selling points, assuming it meets TSA’s detection requirements. One is that unlike OSI Systems‘ [OSIS] Secure 1000 backscatter-based imaging system and L-3 Communications [LLL] ProVision active millimeter wave imager, SafeScreen doesn’t show outlines or images of people’s private areas. On the other hand, this could be a downside to the passive millimeter wave technology if it doesn’t meet detection requirements.
SafeScreen also features an “auto-assist” capability which makes it easier for an operator to locate an anomaly on a passenger. The computer display puts a box around the anomaly, letting the operator inform a screener where to search on a person. Laskey says that auto-assist capability doesn’t replace the need for the operator to review an entire image but it should boost the detectability rates.
Actually classifying hidden objects remains the “holy grail” for any of the whole body imagers, he says.
Another positive for SafeScreen is that it has a smaller footprint than the Secure 1000 and ProVision systems, both of which are on the TSA QPL. Of the three, the Secure 1000 takes up the largest area followed by the ProVision.
The size of the whole body imagers is important because of the limited area most aviation checkpoints have to place the various kinds of screening equipment TSA employs. Laskey says he has spoken to one airport that is in the process of redesigning its “checkpoints to try and accommodate new technologies because they are out of real estate.”
A passenger enters the SafeScreen portal on side, stands in front of the imaging system and then completes a 360-degree turn before exiting out the other end, Laskey says. The imaging system is based on Brijot’s GEN 2 system, which has been deployed with multiple customers.
The GEN 2 is a stand off object detection system. For SafeScreen the company has improved the optics and software for the GEN 2 system to allow for the “turn and spin” application and to enhance detectability to provide whole body coverage close-up, Laskey says. “SafeScreen will be able to resolve items smaller than MobileScan by a factor of 2X,” he says.
MobileScan is a mobile version of the GEN 2 that Brijot developed over a year ago. Multiple units are already in use in the United Kingdom to look for contraband on passengers entering the country on select flights (TR2, Feb. 4, 2009, Aug. 5, 2009). The system can easily be wheeled on its casters and be operational in minutes.
MobileScan and GEN 2 systems are also installed for outbound screening in two airports in Indonesia and customs projects in four other countries for inbound and outbound screening, Laskey says. The company is limited in describing its system deployments due to confidentiality agreements with various customers.
Brijot is relaunching MobileScan to tout the fact that it now offers solutions for both primary and secondary screening applications. SafeScreen is designed for primary screening and MobileScan for either primary or secondary given its mobility. And based on customer feedback, MobileScan features various refinements, in particular new software to add some functionality, Laskey says.