Tag Archive for Body scanners

NIST Rapiscan Secure 1000 Redacted Radiological Safety Report

The system tested was the Secure 1000 manufactured by Rapiscan Security Products, Inc., Hawthorne, CA. The system was received by CDRH for testing on 3/29106 and had the following identification markings “Serial No.: S701201213”, “Date: May 2001 “. The label also included the following statement: “Each scan cycle from this system produces 3 microRem of x-ray radiation emission. This value is comparable to the radiation exposure all persons receive each five minutes from naturally occurring radioactive materials in the air and soil.” The system tested included a back plate and floor panel. The back plate was measured to be 153 cm wide by 242 cm high. When positioned against the floor panel the back plate surface was at approximately 89 cm from the front surface of the Secure 1000 cabinet.

Presidential Report on Effects of Ionizing Radiation From Human Scanning Systems July 2003

This Presidential Report from the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) has been prepared at the request of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA has the responsibility for regulating the manufacture of electronic products that emit ionizing and nonionizing radiation and is working with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which has the responsibility of providing security measures for transportation activities. The FDA asked the NCRP for advice on radiation protection issues concerning exposure to ionizing radiation from radiation-producing devices used for non-medical security purposes. These devices, particularly x-ray scanning systems, are being evaluated by various agencies (e.g., U.S. Customs Service and TSA) for use in security screening of humans. The use of such scanning devices involves a broad societal decision that needs to be made through appropriate procedures by the authorities utilizing the x-ray producing electronic products (and other types of ionizing radiation producing systems) as a security device for screening humans. This report provides an evaluation of radiation levels, radiation risk, and radiation protection measures that should be taken into consideration by implementing authorities. However, the NCRP cannot render an opinion of the net benefit of using these devices based on the ionizing radiation aspects alone.

PNNL: Concealed explosive detection using a wideband holographic millimeter-wave imaging system

A novel wideband millimeter-wave imaging system is presently being developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) that will allow rapid inspection of personnel for concealed explosives, handguns, or other threats. Millimeterwavelength electromagnetic waves are effective for this application since they readily penetrate common clothing materials, while being partially reflected from the person under surveillance as well as any concealed items. To form an image rapidly, a linear array of 128 antennas is used to electronically scan over a horizontal aperture of 0.75 meters, while the linear array is mechanically swept over a vertical aperture of 2 meters. At each point over this 2-D aperture, coherent wideband data reflected from the target is gathered using wide-beamwidth antennas. The data is recorded coherently, and reconstructed (focused) using an efficient image reconstruction algorithm developed at PNNL.