After nearly a year of development and testing, Leidos [LDOS] has received a contract from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to begin upgrading the agency’s fleet of airport checkpoint body scanners with a new artificial intelligence-based algorithm that will significantly reduce false alarms.
The upgrade to the more than 1,000 Leidos-built Pro:Vision advanced imaging technology (AIT) systems follows funding provided by TSA last year to update the algorithm to improve screening of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming passengers. Congress provided $18.6 million in the fiscal year Omnibus spending bill to complete development, testing and deployment of the algorithm updates to the AIT units.
Updating TSA’s AIT fleet will take several months.
The updates will reduce false alarms, which means fewer pat-downs and less friction for TSA officers and the flying public at airport checkpoints. TSA in February 2022 eliminated gender considerations when travelers arrive at the document checker station at airport security checkpoints.
“These new algorithms will help reduce false alarms that lead to unnecessary pat-downs and checkpoint inefficiencies,” Brad Buswell, senior vice president and operations manager at Leidos, said in a statement.