Should ‘Backscatter Technology’ be installed in Airports?

Airplane has become a popular transportation facility in modern era. It gives so many advantages; one of which is enabling people to travel faster. However, this kind of vehicle often makes the passenger worried about their safety. This is because recently many crimes are committed in the departure lounge or even in the airplane. Some examples of the crimes are hijacking, bombing, drug smuggling, etc. As more people use airplane, it is getting difficult to check passengers manually for security purposes. For those reasons, airports need equipment to ensure passengers’ safety. This essay will criticize several claims that emphasize on disadvantages of using scanning technology as airports security equipment and show how the device offers so many advantages in the future.

On Friday, February 24, 2007, Sky Harbor International Airport became the first airport to test a controversial screening system. This system is called “the backscatter” (Tang, Terry, February 24, 2007). This system is a sophisticated and powerful tool to detect substances through materials. The backscatter uses X-ray beam as a main component to obtain figures of substances behind materials. Unlike the current X-ray technology that constructs an image inside of luggage using low and high energy detected from the source of the X-ray beam, the backscatter uses X-ray photon scattered by materials inside luggage. A computer program is used to construct an image that shows what is beneath its cover using the scattered X-ray photon. The image obtained from the backscatter is much better than from the current X-ray. It can even show the exact contour of our body inside our clothes just like a high-resolution picture (MSN, 2007).

However, the ability of the backscatter to produce high-resolution pictures has been widely debated in recent days as an invasion to personal privacy. It will embarrass the passenger if someone sees them as if barely naked. Moreover, if those images are exposed on the Internet, it will be a horrible thing for the passengers. A new method had been carried out on this issue, and it enables the backscatter to produce an image that will not invade passengers’ privacy. The image produced by the backscatter can be modified as more of a chalk outline (Sapa-AFP, 2007), so it is not like looking at a naked person. The trial system in Phoenix produces cartoon-like outlines of the passengers’ body that is being backscattered, and also blurring the private areas (MSN, 2007). Thus, it can be concluded that there is no need to worry on privacy matters.

As the current scanner is able to detect hard materials such as pistols, knives, grenades, etc. the criminals have found a new way of passing through security checkpoints in airports. They transform those prohibited materials into soft materials such as liquids, ceramics, powders, etc. and conceal those goods inside their clothes or their body (Lettice, John, 2004). Since the current X-ray is only able to produce images that display hard materials, the detector will not notice soft materials. So, things like liquid explosives, heroin, ceramic weapons will not be detected. However, using the backscatter, those things will be easily detected. This is because the backscatter works are based on capturing scattered X-ray photons instead of low and high-energy pass through (MSN, 2007). So, the backscatter scans more accurately than current X-ray scanner.

The backscatter project is considered a huge project conducted by U.S. Transportation Security Administration. For installing this device will cost around U.S. $ 100,000 (CTV globemedia, 2007). This cost will not be a burden for developed countries, but for the developing countries, this will be a huge cost that is probably unaffordable for them. However, research is being carried out to find cheaper equipment that has the same ability as the backscatter. By the time the research accomplished, there will not be any obstacles regarding financial matters to implement this device.

Another thing that concerns the passengers is something to do with the radiation exposure. Most of us do not have X-ray regularly, and if we have it in a hospital, we will wear a lead vest over our vital organs. But at airports, it is not possible to get the lead vest for every passenger. It will take a long time to accomplish just a single scan. So, frequent fliers and so as the airports backscatter officers are going to be in danger caused by the backscatter radiation. However, according to the Health Physics Society (HPS), a person who is backscattered will receive 0.005 millirems (mrem, a unit of absorbed radiation) each time he/she has it. This number is far below the upper safety limit radiation, that is 25 mrem per year (CTV globemedia, 2007). Thus, if we calculate this number, a person should not get backscattered more than 5,000 times per year. In other words, a person must get backscattered 14 times per day and everyday for one year to reach this limit. This number is almost impossible for a passenger to reach. The same as the backscatter officers, the backscatter will not harm them since its beam is unidirectional. As long as they don’t stand in front of the device, they won’t get radiated. So, it can be concluded that the backscatter is safe to implement in airports.

A more important matter in airports is giving a good service to the passengers. This service particularly concerns the queues that take place while waiting for scanning. A scanned passenger has to stand in front of the backscatter and has to be scanned twice, the front side and the backside. This procedure takes about one minute. Therefore, it will result in longer queues. It means that the scanning process will take longer compared to the current system that takes a few seconds to check a single person. However, the backscatter’s scan mode can be adjusted. The more details image desired, the longer time required. In addition, there are several digital image-processing algorithms that can be used as alternatives. For example, the image mathematical morphology can be implemented to construct a contour using its skeleton (Gonzales, Rafael, Woods, Richards, 2002). This will automatically reduce time needed for a scan. In addition, not all of the passengers will pass through the backscatter. The device will be used only as secondary equipment of scanning if the passengers fail in the standard metal detectors (Zazaian, Mike, 2006). So, there will not be any concern on queues.

In conclusion, the invention of backscatter has shown a promising prospect for airport safety particularly and for all institutions that might concern security matters. It produces better quality images than current X-ray images, but does not invade personal privacy. Moreover, backscatter scans more accurately than X-ray scanner with no concerns on time needed for scanning. And the most important thing is that the backscatter is safe. With more research and experiments to come, this technology will be a new standard of security scanner.

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Bibliography

MSN, 2007 , Phoenix airport becomes first to test security scanner that can see through clothes, MSN, viewed April 3^rd 2007, http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap02-23-123124.asp?t=APNEW

Sapa-AFP, 26 February 2007, Airport scanner sees through clothes, South Africa Press Association (SAPA), viewed April 3^rd 2007, http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2890&iArticleId=3702774

Tang, Terry, February 24, 2007, Phoenix airport scanner can see through clothes, Star Tribune, viewed on April 3^rd 2007, http://www.startribune.com/484/story/1023071.html

CTV globemedia, 23/02/07, Phoenix airport tests scanner that can see through clothes, Technology, viewed on April 3rd 2007, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070223.wscanner23/BNStory/Technology/home

Lettice, John, 8th November 2004, ‘See through clothes’ scanner gets outing at Heathro, The Register, viewed on April 3^rd 2007, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/heathrow_scanner_pilot/

Gonzales, Rafael, Woods, Richards, 2002, Morphological Image Processing, Digital Image Processing, Prentice Hall.

Zazaian, Mike, 2006, Airport Scanner Takes X-Rated X-Rays, Techfreep, viewed on April 4th 2007