A Potential Airport Security Scanner With X-Ray Vision

[zzyzzx]

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/TechTV/techtv_airportscan020205.html

A Very Candid Camera
A Potential Airport Security Scanner With X-Ray Vision

Feb. 5 — In the fight against terrorism, the Federal Aviation Administration is looking at a number of technologies that effectively strip people of their clothing.

One way is a holographic scanner capable of producing 3D, computer-generated, fully nude images of people who pass through the device.
A circular Holographic Imaging System has been in development at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Kennewick, Washington, since 1989. The FAA is considering the scanner as a next-generation replacement for magnetic scanners now being used in US airports.

The technology is available now. The problem is that it's so good it leaves little to the imagination. It can't produce a skeletal image like an X-ray, but it can produce a fully nude picture of whoever is being scanned.

"It will not penetrate the skin; you cannot see inside the body," said Doug McMakin, one of the PNNL scientists developing the scanner. "We have a linear array that stands vertically, and it scans around the person 360 degrees, so we get 360-degree coverage."

A transceiver encircles the person, emitting ultrahigh frequency radio waves that penetrate the clothing and reflect off the body or items concealed on the body. Another array collects those reflected signals. A computer algorithm program then reconstructs the data into a 3D bitmap.

"So you would effectively see the surface of the body, but at a lower resolution than you would see optically," McMakin said.


Immodest Proposal?

While effective, the technology raises major privacy concerns, because even at a low resolution an operator can see not only weapons but also the entire surface of the naked body. Images made available to TechTV do not show any genitalia.

"The major issue preventing us from going forward is privacy," McMakin said. "That's the issue the FAA is concerned about."

McMakin says the FAA asked scientists at the PNNL to develop a method of addressing the privacy issue — possibly with software.

"We have not developed an algorithm that fully meets all the issues concerning privacy, [weapons] detection and concealment and false alarm rates. We are still working on that," McMakin said.


Too Slow and Invasive For Now

Scientists also must overcome the scanner's appetite for computer-processing power. Right now it takes six to eight digital imaging processors and a gigaflop of CPU power to produce an image in 60 seconds. That's too slow for a real-world application like airport screening.

The PNNL has developed a prototype Planer Holographic Imaging Scanner that looks similar to an 8-foot-high monolith. It is not nearly as comprehensive in its coverage of a person as the circular scanner, but it does have the advantage of speed. It can create a 2D, 180-degree view in eight seconds.

A spokeswoman for the FAA says the agency has no immediate plan to deploy circular or planer scanners until privacy issues have been fully resolved.

[mijman]

I have already seen these in action at the beginning of Airplane 2!

We are witnissing the next generation of porn

Geez, all they gotta do is have the computer draw bikinis on people. Problem solved.

[bilbogod]

So given that you and D4n13l are both programmers, I guess this is the kind of software programming you guys are working on. :P
I guess if I had the job monitoring this scanner, I would filter out the Swedish arrivals passengers into blondes and brunettes, making sure that the blondes passed through my machine

[mijman]

I'm not a programmer, just an idea man

Of course, this wouldn't stop people from smuggling items up their ass

Bilbo, do the Sweedish ones taste better (you cannibal, you)?
We all see the "machine" you want them to pass through, right under your name!

[bilbogod]

I'm not a programmer, just an idea man

I replied before I had seen your post... (according to zzyzzx's profile he is a programmer....... now that is quite a scary thought )

As for the Swedish birds, perhaps Baldrick knows the answer to this, this is his homeland.