Morpho Detection Inc. (MDI) is developing a new-generation of explosive detection systems (EDS) based on X-Ray diffraction (XRD) technology, which can identify more complex threat materials than the current EDS systems in use today at airports which are based on computed tomography, the company says.
MDI began work on its next-generation EDS in 2011 with a $10 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate.
Following studies and the development of bench top components and systems, the S&T branch this year awarded the company funds from the contract to build the new prototypes, which will be ready by 2015 to screen bags for testing, Cameron Ritchie, vice president of Technology and Chief Technology Officer for MDI, tells HSR.
The project for S&T builds off of work MDI began on its own in 2009 to enhance its XRD imaging (XDi) technology for use at checkpoints in time to meet requirements in Europe for a partial lifting of the bans against liquids at the checkpoints. Certain liquids such as duty free items will be allowed to be brought through checkpoints at European Union airports beginning in 2014.
Ritchie says MDI is about to submit its first XDi system for certification in Europe for the Type D liquids ban, which refers to certain liquids being allowed to be carried through the checkpoint in their original containers in 2014. The first evaluation is slated for later this year and the hope is that the system is approved so that it can begin trials at various airport checkpoints in Europe next year, he says.
MDI has previously sold its XRD systems for checked baggage screening to some international customers. The advantage of the technology is that it can detect more complex explosives than the CT-based X-Ray systems because it essentially can establish a chemical fingerprint of the threat materials, Ritchie says. This capability allows the technology to ferret out more complex explosive materials that terrorists may eventually turn to, he says.
MDI, along with L-3 Communications [LLL] and Leidos [LDOS], currently sell CT-based EDS systems to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and international customers.
While XRD technology has its advantages for detecting threats, the systems are large, expensive and slow, making them less attractive for screening, particularly in primary applications. Ritchie says the systems can screen checked bags at a rate of about 50 per hour.
Under the contract with S&T, MDI plans to include a more powerful X-Ray source and more detectors in the prototype while getting baggage throughputs in line with current medium-speed CT-based EDS systems of about 400 to 600 per hour, Ritchie says.
While MDI focuses on making its XRD technology far more capable and marketable than it is currently, the TSA has been evaluating new CT-based systems from L-3, OSI Systems’ [OSIS] Rapiscan Systems division, and a small company called SureScan, that have fixed gantries as opposed to the rotating gantries used with the current EDS systems. Because the fixed-gantry machines have fewer moving parts, TSA hopes they will be less costly to maintain while screening at higher speeds, up to 1,800 bags per hour.
Ritchie says that even fixed gantry systems have complex construction so it isn’t obvious that they will be more reliable in terms of upkeep and maintenance than the rotating gantry EDS systems. Moreover, he says, if the threat evolves into more complex materials and detection standards evolve to stay ahead of the threat, he says even a CT-based fixed-gantry EDS will have trouble finding these explosives.
Ritchie says the current gantry systems can solve the current list of threats and “frankly the next generation” of threats but “at some point that’s not going to be enough.” The ability of the XDi-based technology to obtain “chemical fingerprints” of the threat materials gives them flexibility to find more complex threats, he says.
DHS has been interested in the XDi technology for checked baggage screening “because they see the next-generation of threats will not be confined to the checkpoints,” Ritchie says.
At some point CT and XRD technology could be combined in a single screening system, Ritchie says. Such integration would enable the XDi portion of the machine to screen a bag only if the CT-based subsystem alarms, which would allow higher throughputs than relying solely on an XRD-based system, he says.
MDI is a U.S.-based division of France’s Safran Group.