Newfullbodyscanner sensitive to Indian at tire
AIRPORT SAFETY The scanner will not sound an alert immediately but will produce an Xray image for the screening staff, who will decide if the passenger is hiding any suspicious item
NEW DELHI: The new body scanner, which the Delhi airport is set to try this month will be sensitive to jewellery, sareeandIndian-wear with metallic embroidery, officials said.
A week-long trial run with dummy passengers has already been conducted last month and trial with real passengers is likely to happen by month-end.
Developed by a Russian company in a joint venture with a Gujarat- based manufacturer, the scanner will not sound an alert immediately, but will producean X-ray image for the screen er, who will decide if the passenger is hiding any suspicious item.
The previous body scanner was controversial due to its tendency to raise false alarms. It was particularly bothersome for the security staff when the alarm would be triggered if a woman passed through the machine wearing jewellery. Inmostcases the culprit would be herman galsut ra( wedding thread ), orasaree with metallic embroidery.
To avoid the same problem, the new body scanner has been tweaked as per Indian standards and security personnel found it more helpful than the previous two iterations that have been tested at Delhi airport earlier. The body scanner has arrived at Terminal 3, and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) staff has undergone basic training to handle it. Another round of training will be conducted by the Russian company following which it will be placed at domestic departure of Terminal 3 for a trial run.
“This full body scanner runs onultralowdoseX-raytransmission and over 80 machines have been installed across Russia by thesamecompany. Thisscanner can screen prosthetics and plaster casts as well, so it would help us in handling differently abled passengers. It will also not give any alert and will let the screening personnel decide if the passenger is carrying any suspicious
item,” said a CISF official, who did not wish to be named.
The official said that low dose of X-ray meets the safety instruction of A ER B—Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.
“It is a telephone booth-like structure and passengers will have to stand in it for 2-3 seconds. The scanner will produce an image, which will be scanned by the CISF. Initially, it will be voluntarily and will be placed in the domestic area of T3,” he added.
The advantage of this system is passenger can be screened without removing clothing, shoes and mobile phones. It can detect
blades, paper cutter sand all types of explosives even if it is concealed in the body.
The Bureaufor CivilAviation Security (BCAS), which frames guidelines related to aviation security, has final is ed the specification for the scanner. This will be the third time that the trial run of body scanner will be conducted at the Delhi airport. During the trial run in December 2016, the security agency raised concerns over the body scanner not being able to adapt to theIndian way of dressing and raising false alarms.
The BCAS has also asked the manufacturers to configure the
machines in way that the images don’t reveal body parts after objections were raised by passengers over X-ray images that scanners produce at airports across the world.
Afewyearsago, asimilartrail run was conducted at the Delhi airportandaUS-basedcompany had installed the body scanner which can detect contra band and explosives hidden inside a passenger’s body. A survey conducted during the first phase of trial run revealed that 90% passenger’sfeel the new technology will be helpful, but only 40% volunteered to go through the scan.