Liquid explosives detection technology is almost here
After the plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airlines with liquid explosives was uncovered in London in August 2006, pressure has grown to find new ways to detect liquids in baggage and on airline passengers and figure out what they are
Ever since the attempt by several U.K.-born terrorists to smuggle explosive liquids on board planes, there has been an awareness of how serious this problem is: Serious, because these odorless, transparent liquids are difficult to detect, and until we have a reliable way to detect them, the only way to deal with them is a draconian, sweeping bans on liquids being carried on-board. The ever-inquisitive Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) at DHS believes it has something on its hands to solve this problem. “Having to place your consumable liquids through the baggy routine when going through airport security may one day be history,” says S&T program manager on the project, Brian Tait, “and that’s going to make a lot of people very happy. This is a new screening prototype that definitely shows promise.”
In late June, Los Alamos National Laboratory team successfully completed proof of concept of an extremely sensitive future screening technology. The new technology scans the magnetic changes of individual materials at the molecular level and stores them in a database, which then allows the differentiation and identification of many materials which may be packaged together or separately as they go through the screening process. It uses the same technology used in brain scans, and is based on ultra-low field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which is already being used in medical field for advanced brain imaging. The end goal is eventually to put it next to the current X-ray screener. The SENSIT technology has already been demonstrated to to differentiate more than four dozen materials considered “safe” for carrying onto aircraft, from everyday personal items such as toothpaste and hair jel to those that are considered hazardous. “With the MRI signal, we want to distinguish between harmful items, and many common carry-on liquid consumables,” says Tait. “The goal is reliable detection of liquids, with high throughput, that is non-contact, non-invasive, requires no radiation, produces no residue and uses the existing airport security portal.”
SENSIT is one of S&T’s Homeland Innovation Prototypes (HIPS) projects — high-impact innovative technologies which have shown promise and are on their way to being transitioned to industry for manufacturing and distribution.
