The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recently awarded nearly $3.5 million to three new research and development projects, which will examine ways improve the threat detection capabilities of current X-ray technologies for checked baggage systems.
“The emergence of homemade explosives has placed many challenges on aviation security screening,” William N. Bryan, senior official performing the duties of the DHS undersecretary for science and technology, said. “S&T is making important investments in technology that could be leveraged into the next generation of checked baggage screening equipment.”
The three projects are Capture LLC, DxRay/Rapiscan, and EV Products.
Capture LLC was awarded $1.2 million. It is developing an automated threat detection algorithm for improved detection of prohibited items such as guns and knives on the Transportation Safety Administration’s checkpoint computed tomography systems.
DxRay/Rapiscan was awarded $817,444. It is creating 12 field-of-view, high-output count rate X-ray imaging arrays with high spatial and energy resolution that operate at room temperature and be manufactured inexpensively. The technology will help eliminate false positives.
EV Products was awarded $1.5 million to improve high-speed coded-aperture X-ray scatter imaging screening to stream-of-commerce rates. This will maximize the count rate without compromising other capabilities.