The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is getting ready to move into the next phase of demonstrations of advanced technology to screen carry-on bags after first evaluating the computed tomography (CT)-based scanners to understand operating concepts at airport passenger security checkpoints, says an agency official.
The next phase of the evaluations will be to integrate the CT systems into Automated Screening Lanes (ASLs) at airport checkpoints, says Jose Bonilla, director of TSA’s Innovation Task Force.
First, though, the CT systems will be assessed at the TSA Transportation Security Integration Facility where the agency typically qualifies technology before field testing it. This these evaluations are successful, then the hope is to get the CT systems integrated into an ASL before Christmas, Bonilla says.
A year ago, when TSA was preparing to begin the CT at the checkpoint demonstrations, some in industry had hoped that by now TSA would be ready to make procurement decisions to buy the advanced technology for operational deployments. However, the evaluations began later than TSA originally projected and the agency a year ago didn’t put forth plans for a testing schedule.
Eric Houser, acting division director for Risk Analysis, Requirements and Architecture Division at TSA, tells HSR that it could be a year and maybe two before TSA is ready to begin procuring the CT systems for checkpoint applications.
TSA recently awarded contract modifications to OSI Systems [OSIS] Rapiscan division and Smiths Detection for additional Advanced Technology (AT) X-Ray systems, which is the current technology used to screen carry-on bags at airport checkpoints. TSA has about 2,100 AT X-Ray systems deployed nationwide.
Currently, TSA is evaluating CT systems made by Integrated Defense & Security Systems (IDSS) and L3 Technologies [LLL] at passenger screening lanes at airports in Boston and Phoenix respectively. Those systems are not integrated into ASLs but rather are operating in place of AT X-Ray systems, in “stand-alone mode,” Bonilla says at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. earlier this month. The Department of Homeland Security exhibited some of its capabilities at the show, where Bonilla and Houser spoke.
Bonilla says the first phase of the CT at the Checkpoint evaluations was to “enhance” what standard operating procedures would look like with the technology. While the CT systems hold promise for significantly increasing passenger throughput at the checkpoint, the initial evaluation has focused on things like officer interaction with the systems, “how does the system respond to the operator,” enhancement of the concept of operations, and what can the system do and what can’t it to, he says.
During the first phase, both IDSS and L3 have been on-site at the airports, allowing for interaction between the agency and the vendors to further enhance the operating capabilities of their respective systems, Bonilla says.
“And they’re doing it on the fly,” he says. “So, the vendors and us, we’re learning about what capabilities the system has and may not have, molding our SOP to get us into the next phase of our demonstration.”
When the systems are integrated into the ASLs, that will give TSA an opportunity to “refine” operating procedures “and now truly see not just the effectiveness of it but what does it give us in efficiency as well,” Bonilla says.
Currently, TSA is operating more than 80 ASLs at a number of airports security checkpoints across the U.S. The ASLs have a number of features that are absent from current screening lanes, including multiple divesting stations, mechanized rollers, automated bin return systems, RFID tagging of bins, and parallel bin divert tracks to allow for secondary screening of suspect bags without holding up bags that are queued up to be screened.
Introduction of the ASLs, which are still in the evaluation phase according to TSA, have improved passenger throughput by more than 30 percent at checkpoints where the technology is deployed. L3 is currently providing ASLs for the evaluations and the company points out that the systems are more than just mechanized tables but can be equipped with sensors and software to enable a range of other applications.
The CT technology, which is the standard for automatically screening checked bags for explosives, offers the potential to automatically screen for explosives in electronics and liquids for carry-on bags, making life easier for travelers who might not have to divest these items at the checkpoint. This in turn could help speed passengers through the checkpoint.
In addition to IDSS and L3, TSA has also qualified a CT system made by Analogic [ALOG] for potential evaluation at a checkpoint. Earlier this year, Analogic received a contract from American Airlines for multiple ConneCT machines that could be used to help speed the process of getting those systems installed at TSA checkpoints for testing.
Houser says that TSA is investing in enhancement to the AT X-Ray systems. The Transportation Security Officer that mans an AT system is responsible for deciding whether or not a bag might contain a potential threat. The systems will highlight and bound suspect areas for possible explosives, which is an aid to the operator.
TSA would like to provide the same type of automated coloring and “bounding” for other potential threats such as guns and knives and other prohibited, Houser says.
Eventually, the AT systems will be fully automated and alarm when a potential threat is found, Houser says. Artificial intelligence and machine learning technology is behind the enhancements that are being developed by both Rapiscan and Smiths through contracts TSA has with Duke Univ., he says.
Current AT systems that are deployed at airport checkpoints are nearing the end of their expected 10-year life-cycle. Houser tells HSR that the recent contracts for additional AT machines are to replace systems that have broken down.
Mark Laustra, a senior business development official with Analogic, tells HSR that that the AT systems can’t meet TSA’s advanced passenger screening standards and new screening standards in Europe. He also points out that the AT system weren’t conceived with open architecture in mind so that they can’t easily accommodate third party software that TSA could acquire and plug into the system to improve detection capabilities.
Analogic has developed its system with open architecture in mind to allow TSA or other users to add third party software to the machines, the company says.
In addition to the enhanced AT systems, Houser outlined several other areas where TSA is investing to improve existing technologies, including higher throughput bottled liquid scanners for alarm resolution, more capable Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT), also known as body scanners, to reduce false alarms and better detect small objects, and handheld imagers to mitigate physical pat downs. Ultimately, Houser says, technologies such as synthetic aperture radar could help lead to a walk-through type AIT system for passengers, noting though that there are challenges with all the data such technology would generate.
Houser also says that TSA wants to improve aspects of explosives trace detectors, including selectivity, sensitivity, and mass spectrometry for higher resolution systems, and for more complex chemical analysis. TSA also wants more sensitive walk through metal detectors that can also cover more “body zones,” stronger credential authentication technology that could eventually include biometrics, and further improvements to CT technology, including for homemade explosives, he says.
TSA also wants to enhance X-Ray technology, have common graphic user interfaces across systems for operators, open architectures so that third party software and algorithms can be introduced to screening equipment without being beholden to the original equipment manufacturer, and systems to better screen air cargo.
Bonilla says that TSA also wants to be able to track people as they move through the security process, similar to the way their bags can be tracked with the RFID technology used with the ASL lanes. This will also enable the agency to tailor screening individually passed on each passenger’s risk, he says.