Scaled-down Analogic CT scanners to make debut in nation's airports

Published 29 August 2006

TSA optimistic about trial run, believes full deployment possible in 2007; technology developed under agency’s CAMBRIA development program

For some time now, the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) has wanted a computed tomography (CT) detection machine that it could deploy to airport checkpoints. Those used in luggage screening, the agency found, were too big and expensive for carry-on luggage. It initiated the CAMBRIA program to encourage the development of such a slimmed-down device, giving grants to companies like Reveal Imaging Technologies and Analogic (Nasdaq: ALOG). These efforts look like they are paying off: TSA announced last week that it will soon be testing Analogic’s downsized CT scanner in four or five airports around the country. If all goes well, the machines, which cost approximately $300,000 per unit, could be deployed widely by summer or fall of 2007. “We are very, very optimistic,” said TSA chief Kip Hawley.

As we reported when the development deal was signed last year, Analogic’s Carry-On Baggage Real-time Assessment (COBRA) checkpoint security system uses computed tomography (CT) technology to provide automatic detection and 3-D images of all the objects in a bag or parcel.

In addition to CAMBRIA, Analogic is currently working under three other TSA awards: Phoenix Category 1, for the upgrade of the installed base of EDSs; Phoenix Category 3, for the design, development, and manufacture of the next generation of EDSs; and Manhattan II, for the design of revolutionary detection systems. The company’s screening and imaging devices are used not only by security agencies, but also by medical facilities. The company is regarded as an innovator in computed tomography, digital radiography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging.

-read more in Laura Meckler’s Wall Street Journal report [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115569217362736869.html?mod=todays_us_page_one]

(sub. req.); company Web site