Enhanced capabilities to detect suspect contents in luggage could give airports a vital new way of preventing bombs being smuggled onto aircraft. Baggage security system manufacturers Yxlon International and Heimann Systems offer "level 3" baggage scanning devices which can detect suspect substances through the analysis of scattered spectra signals. According to Yxlon, if the substance has a unique spectra signal, the system can detect and identify by running a comparison with a database. The German company's XES3000 machine which entered service late last year, can differentiate between Dutch cheese, heroin and Semtex.
Heimann offers a machines with similar capabilities, the Hi-SCAN 10065 HDX - but unlike the Yxlon device it needs a pre-scan to detect a suspect area first. Meanwhile UK company Thorlock International uses quadruple resonance detection techniques and high end digital signal processing to detect explosives hidden in passenger hand luggage. Thorlock claims a greater than 95% probability of detection capability for the system.
Source: Flight International
