Rapsican upgrades backscatter scanner

Yesterday we reported on GE’s puffer machine which allows airport screeners to detect explosives’ particles on the body or clothing of suspects. Another favorite among screeners is the non-intrusive scanner Rapsican Secure. The scanner was not as popular among passengers, though: Its backscatter technology is so sensitive that passengers appeared naked on the machine’s monitor, leading to worries about privacy. Now the Hawthorne, California-based Rapiscan Systems, a division of OSI Systems, has received a contract from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for $865,000 to add further software enhancements to its Rapiscan Secure 1000 backscatter technology for personnel screening. The company will complete the software enhancements and then submit the software to the TSA for further testing and evaluation before it is deployed for field trials.

Rapiscan’s proprietary backscatter X-ray technology is embedded in the company’s Rapiscan Secure 1000 Body Scanner, a non-intrusive personnel screening system designed to detect metallic and nonmetallic threat objects. The Rapiscan Secure 1000 enables security personnel to detect ceramic, plastic, metallic, organic, and other contraband or security threats. The system provides a comprehensive body search in seconds, eliminating the need for intrusive and less-effective hands-on body searches by security personnel.

-read more in this report