By Calvin Biesecker
Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have begun field testing at an airport a prototype system based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology for use in sorting out potential threat liquids and gels from harmless ones.
Under a $5 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate, the scientists adapted the MRI technology used in medical imaging to create the prototype MagViz system. Field testing began this week at Albuquerque International Sunport in New Mexico.
MagViz is currently able to “reliably identify” 50 liquids based on their chemical fingerprints and add more threats as they emerge, LANL said.
If MagViz determines that a liquid is potentially harmful, the system circles the bottle or container in red. If the liquid or gel is harmless, it gets a green dot. Substances that can’t be identified are circled in yellow, indicating a need for further inspection.
LANL said it hopes that if the development process is successful, machines could be in airports by 2012.
The need to identify potential liquid explosives arose out of the foiled bomb plot over two years ago in Britain. Terrorists there had planned to board trans-Atlantic flights and blow the planes up after they were airborne using liquid explosives and detonators. As a result, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) temporarily banned the carry-on of all liquids and gels on U.S. flights. However, as a result of a fast-paced testing program conducted by DHS S&T, TSA later in 2006 was able to allow airline passengers to resume bringing liquids with their carry-on luggage, albeit in reduced quantities.
Currently, TSA relies on systems provided by ICx Technologies [ICXT] and Smiths Detection to scan bottled liquids for possible threats. The agency plans to review technologies from other companies as well next year. Moreover, the agency is also working with Smiths and OSI Systems‘ [OSIS] Rapiscan Division, the companies that supply Advanced Technology X-Ray systems to airport checkpoints, to enable their systems to detect liquids, and eventually liquid explosives, in carry-on bags.