Morpho Detection, Inc. (MDI) has received its first contract for its new CTX 5800 medium-speed explosives detection system (EDS) and expects its X-Ray diffraction-based checkpoint screening system to be ready in 2013 to meet European requirements for detecting liquid explosives in carry-on bags, company officials tell TR2.
The order for a single CTX 5800 is for Mauritius and will be installed in the fourth quarter of 2011, while the international pipeline for these systems is at 50, Dennis Cooke, MDI’s president and CEO, says in a phone interview from the Paris Air Show where the company is exhibiting its detection products. Including the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, with whom the CTX 5800 has passed checked baggage inspection system testing and is currently in testing at the Transportation Security Integration Facility, the pipeline is about double, he says.
The company expects to close more orders for the system later this year.
MDI is touting CTX 5800 as a modestly priced–it sells for between $500,000 and $600,000–EDS capable of throughputs exceeding 400 bags per hour with the smallest footprint of any medium-speed offering at that throughput, making its attractive for the small and medium-size airports that populate much of Europe as well as the U.S. The company says the system takes up about as much floor space as an Advanced Technology X-Ray machine found at the checkpoints at U.S. airports.
The Mauritius deal is being financed by the Chinese, which MDI officials view as an “endorsement” from another potential key market for the CTX 5800.
MDI is exhibiting its detection offerings at the Paris Air Show as part of a larger exhibition by its parent company Safran. It is the first time MDI has presented its technologies at the Paris Air Show and company officials believe it is the first time any detection company has exhibited at the event.
MDI says its new X-Ray diffraction-based checkpoint screening system, the XDi, will be ready for prototype demonstrations in the second half of this year, with field testing beginning in the second half of 2012 followed by market availability in May 2013.
The XDi is being developed to screen carry-on bags, including doing automated detection of liquid explosives and their components hidden inside the bags, in line with European Union requirements. The company says it will meet Type D screening standards, which means liquids can remain in the carry-on bags, with low false alarm rates. MDI unveiled the XDi last fall (TR2, Nov. 10, 2010).
In April the European Union was supposed to begin phasing in new requirements meant to allow for automated screening of liquid explosives inside carry-on bags but that plan has essentially been put off until 2013 due to concerns that current automated detection technology isn’t up to the task, which prompted TSA to warn carriers flying from Europe to the U.S. that their flights would receive additional scrutiny.
MDI believes its XDi system will be ready in 2013 and hopes the EU remains committed to eliminating the ban on liquid containers left in carry-on bags, thereby ensuring a market for its new product.
At the air show MDI is also exhibiting its CTX 9800 EDS system, which is currently being procured by TSA. Cooke expects European orders for the system in the next several months for Level One screening, meaning it would be used as the primary EDS screening solution for checked baggage.
Currently, many airports rely on Advanced Technology X-Ray systems for primary screening and then divert alarmed bags to secondary screening by an EDS system. The AT X-Ray systems have automated detection capabilities that are in use in some countries but in the U.S. the TSA–which uses the systems to screen carry-on bags at airport checkpoints– still requires an operator viewing the X-Ray image on a screen to clear a bag.
Future Checkpoint Concept
MDI, along with its sister company MorphoTrak, which develops and produces identity management solutions, is also demonstrating a “Checkpoint of Tomorrow” vision that incorporates biometric identification systems along with detection systems.
The MorphoWay series consists of document checking systems for passports, visas and airline tickets, as well as biometric checking systems and devices, including sensors to conduct facial, iris and fingerprint scans on the fly, for background checking and verification.
For detection, at the air show MDI is including a walk through portal for explosives trace detection and its shoe scanning device as part of the MorphoWay checkpoint of the future concept. The portal is based on quantum cascade laser technology and doesn’t require a person to stop inside while they are being scanned.
MDI is offering its shoe scanning device to the TSA in response to the agency’s recent request for proposals for technology that can screen for explosives hidden inside shoes without requiring a person to remove their shoes at the checkpoint. The company has been selected by the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate for a contract to optimize the shoe scanner for operational use, such as improved passenger flow, as well as to help meet detection requirements. The value of the award is still being negotiated, MDI officials say.
Cooke says that a month ago Morpho hosted a conference in Washington, D.C., for its detection and identity solutions customers and says there was a lot of interest from both customer sets for integrated detection and biometric solutions.
“The question becomes how do you certify and deploy these types of [integrated] technologies,” Cooke says.
TSA and international organizations are currently examining concepts for risk-based checkpoint screening of passengers that could include biometric verification and document checks as well as select usage of existing detection and screening technologies.