Airport tests full-body X-ray system

Future passenger security checks at airports may no longer include ‘pat-downs’ with a new full-body imaging technology undergoing trials at Manchester Airport.

Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2 is trialling the Secure 1000 Single Pose, which uses backscatter technology and proprietary image processing software to produce a ghost-like outline of an individual’s body. A concealed threat such as a knife or gun would be clearly detectable on the image.

The US-based developer of the technology, Rapiscan Systems, believes that the technology could, one day, replace metal detectors in airports.

Tim Raynor, the European Union (EU) government affairs technical director for the company, said that the imaging system is different to normal X-ray machines.

The Rapiscan system works by bouncing X-rays off an individual’s skin to produce an outline image of the person’s body, he added. A normal X-ray imaging system detects X-rays that are generated through a person.

Raynor said that, in an airport security check scenario, an individual would be asked to stand between two machines for a few seconds. Each machine would generate a pencil beam of X-rays that would scan an individual in a raster fashion over the body.