The side-effects of the terrorist attacks on aircraft over the past two decades have been increased security and a restriction on passengers taking liquids onto aircraft, where liquids need to remove from luggage and only liquids of a certain volume permitted to be taken on-board (and then after a separate scanning process). The liquid restriction came in force after a plot in the U.K. to blow up as many as ten planes using explosives hidden in drinks bottles was scuppered by police officers. The process of checking-in through security also requires all electronic equipment, such as laptops, to be scanned separately.
Such restrictions could become a thing of the past, due to advances in 3D scanning technology. Such technology not only promises improved security assessments, it should also make the travel process easier and faster for passengers. In the U.K., the government is sufficiently satisfied to have ordered a series of scanners to be put in place in all major U.K. airports by 2022.
Britain’s biggest airport – Heathrow – is set to spend £50 million ($75 million) on the computed tomography scanners alone. The scanning technology will produce clearer images of what is inside luggage and enable security personnel to view items from a multi-angle perspective.
Commenting on the planned implementation of the scanners, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “By making journeys through UK airports easier than ever, this new equipment will help boost the vital role our airports play in securing the UK’s position as a global hub for trade, tourism and investment.”
Similarly, in the U.S. the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) also looks set to have the scanners in place for 2020. The agency has ordered 300 new CT scanners at a price of $96.8 million.
The 3D scanners are hollow tubes within which a bag is placed. The luggage is then bombarded it with X-rays and the data captured. The CT scanner uses the data to create a very detailed tomogram (slice) of the bag. The scanner can calculate the mass and density of individual objects within the luggage based. In cases where an object’s mass/density falls within the range of a dangerous material, the CT scanner, trough sophisticated algorithms, alerts security of a potential hazardous object.
With another airport security enhancement, some airports are experimenting with Credential Authentication Technology, which gives operators sitting at the end of security lines a screen to look at which contains an enlarged picture of the person’s picture and passport on file. Also displayed in the airline, flight number, airport, and other travel information.
