Metal Detection: advances in traditional passenger screening

14 Jun 2010

The workhorse of the airport security checkpoint has long been the archway metal detector, sometimes supplemented by the hand-held magnetometer. The portals and wands may look the same as those deployed forty years ago, yet the technology itself has much improved.  Helen Gripton enters the realms of disrupting eddy currents!

For many years now, the aviation industry has had to respond to and attempt to counter the threat of terrorism and other criminal acts.  Civil aviation and airports continue to be attractive, high profile, targets and the industry is, and has to remain, open to new and evolving technology that may speed up and simplify the task of screening passengers both rapidly and accurately.

It is undoubtedly the case that the most effective method of detecting prohibited articles secreted on the person is the hand search.  When well-performed, this allows for the discovery of both metallic and non-metallic items, an important consideration as the technology employed by terrorists becomes ever more sophisticated.  Nevertheless, it is an unfortunate truism that, in today’s busy airports, seeking to carry out a full body search of all passengers would prove too time-consuming.  Accepting that reality, the widespread deployment of metal detectors has proved to be an answer to the need both for speed in the screening of passengers and for a reliable aid in focusing the need for individual searches.   That said, their limitations must never be overlooked in the overall task of providing a safe environment for the travelling public.

As one of the many who has passed through numerous walk through metal detectors en-route to holidays or business trips, I have previously given little thought to their history and the technology behind them bar a basic understanding of their purpose and the simplified explanation of their capabilities, needed to coach aviation security officers through their training. (More online)

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