3D scanners at airports

TSA's New 3-D Scanners Will Let You Keep Items in Your Carry-on Luggage

Photograph: Shutterstock

Airport screening may be faster and less hectic soon

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Ever since 9/11, airport security lines have involved a hectic jockeying of which items can stay in your carry-on luggage, and which need to be pulled out – your Ziplock bag of liquids, your phone, your laptop, your Kindle – all while taking off shoes and cursing when you remember you didn’t dump the contents of your water bottle.

Well, help is on the way. The Transportation Security Administration will be installing updated scanners that let you keep more items in your bag, making the screening process faster, reported Travel + Leisure.

Looking like a globular cat scan machine – and in fact, the technology uses CT scanning – the device creates a 3D x-ray image of your bag’s contents and can rotate it across three axes to scrutinize what forbidden items you might be carrying. Sophisticated algorithms help detect explosives and other threatening material, and if a bag requires a closer look, a TSA officer can still inspect it. It's a big improvement from the 2D imaging that TSA currently uses.

TSA will order 469 of these base systems with one scanner, and 469 of the full-size CT systems which will include parallel screening lanes that will be fully automated with automatic bin return.

TSA is spending $781.2 million to procure and maintain these systems, and you may see these in place as early as this summer. This follows last year’s $198 million spent on mid-size CT x-ray systems that are already being installed across the country at various TSA checkpoints.

“Like existing CT technology used for checked baggage, the machines create such a clear picture of a bag’s contents that computers can automatically detect explosives, including liquids,” reports the TSA’s website page on Computed Tomography. So, laptops and liquids will soon be able to stay where you stowed them.

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Airport Security Faster Because of 3D Scanning

Nothing says hands-on like airport TSA, and it appears that the Transportation Security Administration is going to be getting its hand on some 3D scanning equipment to help it
detect any illegal and dangerous cargo, like explosive items and weapons. The old X-Ray
technology has been in place for some time, and it is not as cracked up for the job as these new
3D laser scanning device. They need to update their tools to make sure that explosives don’t
slip through security. Fortunately, new hand-carry 3D scanners for luggage are going to do the
job.

3d scanning and virtual reality tours of your home

The Analogically 3-D CT scanner is what they call it. Potentials threats are in for a big
stopping surprise. What this scanner does is push aside the limited 2D images that cause
security screeners to squint and look cock-eyed at the X-Ray of your luggage trying to figure out
what on earth is in your bag. Instead, this new device as going to give a 3D scanned 360-
rotating image of your belonging so that it won’t be nearly as difficult to identify what you intend
to pack on the flight. Of course, most of us are hardworking, honest citizens trying to make an
honest buck or maybe just trying to go visit some family and friends. But it only takes one nut to
jam up the whole gear box. One scumbag trying to blow us all up makes the rest of us suffer by
causing us to wait in line for scans and pat-downs. Thanks to the hard work of engineers and
3D laser scanning services, the wait times are being reduced.

video: tsa testing 3d scanners to speed up security line

customized pieces

As soon as these scanners assume their positions in airports across the country, people
are going to start feeling the effects of it during their travels. First of all, it is going to speed
things up. What slows everything down is not the people, but what they carry. I can’t remember
the last time I went through security without having to have my bag pulled out and opened up,
and then having to explain why I am carrying some odd piece of luggage, like a screw nut for my applesauce grinder, or three bags of candy corn. I’m sure those look kind of funky on the X-Ray, but it would be nice if they had a scanner that could give them a better view the first time.

Well, they do. If that isn’t a good enough reason, well then at least it will reduce the number of
times the security team will be pulling the underwear out of your bag for the whole world to gawk
at. Speed and privacy are what we want, and this new 3D scanning product is going to
deliver.

video: tsa to debut new baggage scanners

The next time take a trip and head through security, remember that there are 3D
scanning services looking out for you. So instead of complaining about pat downs and intrusive
fingers, give the TSA a high-five, and send a thank you letter to your nearest 3D scanning
service.

keep reading: More Articles about 3D scanning

UK airports to lift liquid carry-on restrictions from 2024 - 3D scanners to help

December 15, 2022

Image copyright Getty Images

New 3D scanners are being installed at UK airports to provide more detailed images of baggage. The government decided to equip airports with them until June 2024. This means that passengers departing from the UK will not need to comply with the 100 ml rule for liquids and remove electronic devices during security screening. nine0012

The previous installation date for this equipment was canceled due to the pandemic.

Passengers are currently allowed to take liquids up to 100 ml in hand luggage - at airport screening, the containers must be packed in a small transparent plastic bag and placed separately from the rest of the luggage on the scanner belt. The maximum volume of liquid in this case should not exceed 1 liter per person.

This rule was established in 2006 after British police uncovered a plot to blow up up to 10 planes with explosives hidden in drink bottles. Since then, restrictions on the transport of liquids have been in place around the world. nine0005
The new scanners are similar to CT scanners in hospitals and provide a clearer 3D view of luggage contents. Similar scanners began to be tested at London Heathrow Airport in 2017.

3D scanners will be installed at Heathrow to examine your baggage in detail

"We are gradually implementing them. We have just begun expanding the security area in the third terminal, where there will be more scanners, and the Ministry of Transport has set a deadline of mid-2024 Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kay told The Times. nine0005
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,
Liquid baggage restrictions have been in place since 2006, following an attempted terrorist attack on several planes , will drastically reduce the queues for screening at UK airports.

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In addition to liquids, passengers must also remove tablets, laptops, large cameras and camcorders from their suitcases - all this greatly affects the time it takes to pass through security. If passengers forget to put something out of their bags, they have to be screened manually, which also exacerbates the problem.

After installing the new scanners, the amount of liquid allowed per person will be increased to 2 liters, and passengers will no longer need to take electronic devices out of their bags during security checks. nine0005
Transportation Secretary Mark Harper said the new technology will reduce screening queue times, improve passenger convenience and, most importantly, detect potential threats.

UK Airport Operators Association Director of Regulations Christopher Snelling called the investment in the new scanners "a big step forward for air travel in the UK, taking it to the top of its class worldwide."

"This will make traveling through UK airports easier and air travel itself more enjoyable," he said. nine0005
Photo copyright, Smiths Group
Photo caption,
Heathrow Airport uses Smiths 3D scanners

3D scanner technology has been used for several years at US airports such as Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta and O'Hare in Chicago. This year, it was introduced at Shannon Airport in Ireland, where the 100 ml rule was abolished. Airport officials said the move cut the time passengers spent going through security checks in half.

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"As new scanners proliferate, some belts will require passengers not to take things out of their bags, while other belts will require it," an aviation industry source told the Times. "The 100 ml rule will remain in place." until the implementation of the new technology is completed, and this decision will be taken by the Ministry of Transport." nine0005
Before the pandemic, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set a deadline for airports to switch to the new technology until the end of 2022, but then the number of passengers dropped sharply, and plans were decided to be postponed.

The latest data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for September shows that worldwide passenger traffic has reached 73% of the level it was before the coronavirus pandemic.

3D body scanners at Australian airports: what are they and how do they work? nine0001
Sydney Airport has just started using 3D body CT scanners in its domestic Qantas terminal, T3. While CT scanners have been widely used in Australia's international terminals for many years and installed at Melbourne's T4 terminal, as well as at Gladstone and Canberra airports, many travelers are using the technology for the first time at a domestic airport. Saw

What are scanners and how do they work?

These are large tubes that passengers are asked to enter before raising their arms as the car spins around them. They use millimeter wave non-ionizing imaging to scan a person with what they wear under their clothes. They are able to detect metal and non-metal objects. nine0005
Airport security personnel are shown a simple cartoon outline of a person with areas of interest outlined in square boxes. Melbourne Airport states that no personal scans or personal information are stored or transmitted by the scanner.

CT scanners are also used to transport luggage.

Why are they brought?

In 2018, then-Secretary of the Interior Peter Dutton announced that airports would be required to phase out the use of metal detectors when budgeting regional airports. nine0005
It happened in the year when two brothers planned to blow up a passenger plane with a bomb hidden in a meat grinder.

“We are concerned that various equipment is passing through the scanner that will not be detected at this time,” Dutton told Melbourne radio station 3AW in 2018. — We are worried about the gels. We're concerned about harmful gases, all kinds of things that are potentially not captured."

Dutton said the new scanners will be rolled out "in the next few years" but it took four years for a checkpoint at the terminal of Australia's busiest domestic airport to get the technology. nine0005
Guardian Australia is aware that other checkpoints at T3 in Sydney will be upgraded with the same technology by the end of the year.

How much does it cost?

The Australian Airports Association estimates the cost of the upgrade at $2 billion. The preliminary budget presented this year says the size, scope and scope of the upgrades, as well as the impact of the pandemic on the aviation industry, have further complicated the project for Australia's top 10 airports and the federal government. asked for money to cover expenses. nine0005
Will they move faster than airport security?

In principle, yes. CT scans mean passengers no longer have to remove laptops, aerosols and other items from their carry-on luggage at security checkpoints. But they will still need to take off their jackets and other outerwear.

ABC reporter Louise Milligan tweeted last week that she had to take off her fitted jacket. and said others have complained "Heavy Bulge" about safety.
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