TSA adds AS&E's X-ray inspection systems to qualified air cargo screening list
Screening cargo on air planes is promising to be big business, and companies rush to have their screening cargo machines certified by TSA; AS&E has its Gemini 6040, Gemini 7555, and Gemini 100100 X-ray inspection systems added to TSA’s certified cargo screener list
Congress has mandated that all cargo carried on passenger planes must be screened by August 2010. Makers of screening machines are rushing to have their systems approved for the task. The latest: American Science and Engineering, Inc. (AS&E), a supplier of X-ray detection solutions, announced the other day that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has added the company’s Gemini 6040, Gemini 7555, and Gemini 100100 X-ray inspection systems to its Air Cargo Screening Qualified Technology List (ACSQTL).
The company says that its Gemini systems offer certified air cargo screeners the combination of dual-energy transmission X-ray with AS&E’s proprietary Z Backscatter X-ray technologies for comprehensive threat detection of air cargo.
“We are pleased that TSA has added AS&E’s Gemini systems to its ACS Qualified Technology List to inspect air cargo before being loaded onto passenger planes,” said Anthony Fabiano, AS&E’s president and CEO. “Our Gemini system’s multi-technology capability can detect both metallic and organic threats, providing security officials with a unique ability to detect explosives. Additionally, Z Backscatter technology produces photo-like images that are easy to interpret, facilitating the operator’s analysis time to efficiently move cleared cargo onto the planes. We look forward to assisting TSA and the certified air cargo facilities to meet the 100% screening mandate.”
The company claims that Gemini Multi-technology Parcel X-ray Inspection Systems is the lowest cost multi-technology inspection system on the market and the only system to combine AS&E’s Z Backscatter technology and dual-energy transmission. Z Backscatter technology provides enhanced detection of organic materials such as explosives (including sheet and liquid explosives), drugs, and plastic weapons which are easily missed by transmission-only systems in cluttered parcels. The system’s photo-like images are easy to interpret, potentially decreasing items flagged for secondary screening, and reducing operator fatigue.
The company says that dual-energy transmission provides high image quality, and enables the quick detection of a wide variety of threats such as guns, knives, and wires for IEDs. In addition, dual-energy offers organic and metallic discrimination. “Together, the Gemini systems’ two technologies provide the most information available about the contents of a parcel,” the company says.
Gemini systems are available in multiple tunnel sizes to inspect air cargo, large packages, break-bulk cargo, mail, and other small parcels to meet different security requirements for air-cargo facilities, customs checkpoints, high-threat facilities, building lobbies, and mailrooms.
