Border Scanning Technologies. How to select the right one

Transcription

1 Border Scanning Technologies How to select the right one

2 Who is L-3 Communications? 2

3 L-3 Corporate Business Overview Company Profile: - Founded: Sales $15.6B - US Defense Industry Rank 6 - Fortune 500 Ranking: Employees 66,000 - Business Units: 70+ Business Groups - Electronic Systems - Security & Detection Systems - Government Services - C 3 ISR - Aircraft Modernization & Maintenance Major Products - Infrared Cameras - Digital wireless communication networks - Shipboard communication & power systems - SATCOM terminals - Telemetry & instrumentation A world leader in aerospace, defense and public safety systems, products and services

4 L-3 Security & Detection Systems Wholly-owned by L-3 Communications Division headquarters based in Woburn, MA USA Major offices in U.K., Singapore, UAE, Beijing, Australia Sales & distribution network in over 60 countries 30 years experience in the industry EG&G and Vivid Technologies heritage Over 750 employees Leading supplier of security detection systems Broad technology innovator and integrator Computed tomography, automated, conventional and high energy X-ray, active millimeter wave (MMW) imaging, energetic materials detection L-3 SDS headquarters in Woburn, MA USA Globally recognized for outstanding maintenance and service support (24 x 7) Largest W/W installed base of security systems Over 20,000 X-ray systems Over 1,500 automated systems Over 900 examiners deployed in 26 countries Over 500 ProVision people screening systems L-3 SDS manufacturing in St. Petersburg, FL USA 4

5 SDS and CyTerra - Business Unit Locations L-3 S&DS Middle East Sales & Service Dubai, UAE L-3 S&DS India Sales & Service Gurgaon, India L-3 S&DS Korea Sales & Service Incheon, S. Korea L-3 S&DS Headquarters Woburn, MA L-3 S&DS China Sales Office Beijing, China L-3 S&DS Hong Kong Sales & Service Hong Kong L-3 S&DS Singapore Asia Pac Headquarters Singapore L-3 S&DS Manufacturing Operations St. Petersburg, FL 5 L-3 S&DS UK EMEA Sales and Service Bracknell, UK L-3 S&DS Australia Sales & Service Melbourne, Australia

6 L3 SDS Product Segments Checked Baggage Checkpoint Solutions Certified Automated Conventional Trace Advanced Imaging Cargo Solutions 6 Installation, Field Service & Support

7 Deciding on what type of system you need 7

8 A plethora of choices Numerous types of systems and technologies are being offered for use to screen goods entering (and some cases leaving) a country though its ports X-ray, gamma, backscatter, linac, betatron, gantry, mobile, portal, dual-view, material discrimination, radiation detection, trace detection, canines.. Unlike the highly regulated world of baggage screening the choice can be confusing It doesn t help that each vendor will be trying to convince you that their solution is the only one you need Each of these systems and technologies was originally developed to meet a particular need and probably does it well That doesn t mean it is best for what you need No single system or technology is ideal for all requirements Tradeoffs have to be made to select the solution best for you 8

9 Tradeoffs The one thing that is common between systems is physics It dictates what is possible and how one parameter relates to another An improvement in one area usually means something has to be sacrificed somewhere else e.g. Better penetration means higher energy X-rays which means more shielding and thus greater weight Better resolution needs smaller detectors which means higher dose rates Mobility means more complexity, lower performance and higher running costs 9

10 Decide what you need to achieve Before choosing a system type you need to define what you are trying to achieve with it and how you want to use it Just because someone else with a similar problem to solve has selected a particular system that doesn t mean it is the right one for you They may have operational constraints that you don t Answers to questions such as what, where, for how long and how often should be considered before deciding on what solution is needed It s harder for vendors to give you an answer without knowing the real question But that doesn t stop us trying to! 10

11 What are you looking for? Are you looking for something very specific? Drugs Cigarettes Bombs (IEDs) People Stolen cars Or are you trying to detect a range of threats Manifest verification How much are you hoping to detect? Kg s or 100 s of Kgs? 11

12 What are you looking for it in? There are cargo screening systems optimized for Cars Pallets Trucks Shipping containers (usually on a truck) Trains In a sea port you are usually only interested in the shipping container On a land border you will be interested in the truck carrying it as well or 12

13 How badly do you need to find it? Usually this is driven by the consequences of not finding it If a bomb gets on an airplane the consequences are dire If a few Kg of drugs are missed they will be less so If I said to a security officer, I m going to detect 80% of bombs he would be dissatisfied If I said to a Customs officer, I m going to detect 80% of contraband he will probably be very happy This question not only affects the performance of the screening system but also how much you screen If you have decided that you don t need to do 100% screening then you have decided that it is OK to miss some contraband 13

14 What kind of cargo is it hidden in? The type of cargo being examined depends on many factors Location Air, sea or land Import, export or transshipment Homogeneous or consolidated Manufactured, grown or bulk All these affect the percentage of cargoes that can successfully be imaged by a particular system Denser cargoes such as bulk goods need higher energy Complex cargoes such as consolidated loads need higher resolution 14

15 Where do you want to carry out the inspections? Can the cargo be scanned in a single location or does the scanning capability need to be taken to the cargo? You may have no choice in this if you don t own anywhere in the port where a fixed scanning facility could be located There may also no one convenient place for cargo to be routed through This is often the case in multi-terminal ports Rapidly deployable mobile systems can be used to target a number of different locations Today s mobile systems are capable of high performance imaging in a fully road legal platform But mobile systems are more costly to operate More complex More manpower Need fuel 15

16 Mobile scanner High-energy mobile systems can be used to produce high quality images almost anywhere a truck can be driven to 16

17 CX-Mobile Image

18 CX-Mobile Image

19 CX-Mobile Image

20 How much penetration do I need? Cargo density can vary significantly between cargo types Manufactured goods are typically lower density but more complex Raw materials and food such as vegetables, fruit tend to be high density Organizations such as CBP in the US have used 254 mm steel penetration as a minimum requirement for the penetration of high density cargo Typically systems operating at 4 MeV or above can be used on dense cargo Lower energy systems such as those using gamma sources are not suitable for dense cargo Backscatter systems have to be thought of differently They only work because they have very limited penetration They are intended for seeing what is the other side of a thin barrier such as the wall of a container or side of a car They won t show you what is inside the cargo itself 20

21 Penetration examples Gamma 160 mm steel 6 MeV 360 mm steel 21

22 What about image quality? How much detail you need to see depends on what you are looking for A lower resolution image will be OK if what you are looking for is large or obvious Stolen cars, 100s Kg of drugs, items in empty containers. If you are trying to reconcile what can be seen in the image with the manifest data then the better the image the easier that will be Better image quality also reduces the number of rejected cargoes because it is easier to make sense of any anomalies seen in the cargo 22

23 Complex images 23

24 Complex images 24

25 System types vs. priorities Performance Gantry Fixed location Best penetration Scans any vehicle High throughput Portal Fixed location Only scans trailer and cab but not truck cab Easiest to maintain (few moving parts) Can be adapted to scan trains and air cargo Flexibility Mobile Can scan anywhere Most complex More manpower Lowest throughput 25

26 Other considerations What are you going to do with containers that appear to be suspicious? You almost certainly already have somewhere where manual searches are carried out but will it have enough capacity? A scanner can spot an anomaly in seconds but it will take much longer to access the offending item In many cases the useful throughput of a scanner becomes dictated by the capacity of the manual search facility A better performing scanner can reduce the number of false alarms by making it easier to be sure a threat is real Alternatively you can make your manual search capability more efficient by adding a secondary screening capability 26

27 Secondary screening an example Australian Customs operate a number of container screening systems in their ports They are looking for the usual range of contraband- drugs, weapons etc The manual search facilities in Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide are equipped with L-3 s dual-view CX-Pallet scanners that are used to examine cargo removed from suspect shipping containers Speeds up the search process, saves manpower and is more likely to find contraband 27

28 How do you compare systems? Operational performance in terms of parameters such as detection probability, false positives etc is both difficult to specify and measure The biggest variable is the cargo itself which can vary enormously between ports Imaging systems are usually specified in terms of measureable parameters such as steel penetration, spatial resolution and contrast sensitivity Although not easily related to real cargo they are easily measured The American National Standards Institute has issued ANSI N American National Standard for Determination of the Imaging Performance of X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Systems for Cargo and Vehicle Security Screening It is being increasingly called up in RFQs worldwide as well as in the US There is also an IEC standard being prepared but it may be a while before it is published 28