VVID - Analyst Coverage and Media Attention (2 of 2)
Here's the media coverage on Airport Security and Airport Security specific to Vivid Technologies. Carol has another good article that she will post later today.
Media Information Specific to Airport Security and the FAA requirements:
Airport Security
Under new domestic flight measures adopted by the Federal Aviation
Administration and put into effect New Year's Day, the baggage of
passengers who fit a certain security risk profile may be checked for
explosives. Airline officials have not made clear exactly who may be
stopped but said bags will not be loaded on a plane unless the bag's owner
also boards." - Ref:
news.courant.com
The Department of Transportation (DOT)helps keep the skies friendly by
monitoring the safety of foreign aiports. Under the 1985 law, DOT assesses security at foreign airports. If the Secretary determines that security at an airport is not effective, DOT is required to notify the foreign government of the findings and recommend corrective actions after notifying the U.S. Secretary of State. If the deficiencies are
not remedied within 90 days, the department is required by law to publish the name of the airport and to inform the public about the finding.
> dot.gov
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Now Articles on Airport Security that specifically mention Vivid Technologies
Science & Technology: SECURITY
NOW ARRIVING AT U.S. AIRPORTS: BOMBPROOFING
The FAA is finally installing the best systems it can find By Otis Port in New
York
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12/01/97 Business Week
Page 122 (Copyright 1997 McGraw-Hill, Inc.)
For U.S. executives in the bomb detection business, Terminal One at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport has been too long coming. Scheduled to open next summer, it may become the first airline terminal in the world to screen all luggage, both carry-on and checked, for explosives. Ironically, it is being built by foreign companies--Air France, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, and Lufthansa. The Federal Aviation Administration is helping, while also buying such equipment for many other airports. ''From the start, our goal was 100% baggage screening, even if there was no FAA
requirement,'' says Alain Content, who heads engineering and design at Terminal One Group Assn.
U.S. suppliers of explosives detection gear are tired of making excuses for Europe's more aggressive effort to thwart terrorist attacks. Compared with the U.S., Europe's airports have far more U.S.-made equipment for spotting hidden explosives. And the triple-check system being installed at Terminal One and other airports was hatched by BAA PLC (formerly the British Airport Authority). When it realized no single technology was up to the task of finding bombs in luggage, BAA was determined to find a solution--to avoid a repeat of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which departed from
London's Heathrow Airport. ''That was a powerful motivation,'' says S. David Ellenbogen, chairman of Vivid Technologies Inc. in Woburn, Mass.
Here's how triple-check works: First, checked luggage is zapped with special X-ray beams from an automated system that's fast enough to process the mountain of bags heading for the belly of a jumbo jet. Usually, BAA does this ''level-one'' screening with a $400,000 machine from Vivid Technologies that can process up to 1,500 bags an hour, probing luggage with two different X-ray frequencies. These dual beams generate data for computing the chemical makeup of every object in the bag.
If the analysis finds anything that's close to the composition of an explosive or a weapon, the image of the suspicious object gets highlighted in color (photo) and is relayed to a nearby workstation for double-checking. There, the image is scrutinized by a skilled inspector, who can enlarge parts of the image or strip away details to help decide whether to let the bag pass. Alternatively, some airports use a more
sensitive automated system at this stage, such as the CTX 5000 machine from
InVision Technologies Inc. in Newark, Calif. It uses X-ray technology derived from hospital CAT scanners to dissect a bag's contents in minute detail.
When any doubt remains, BAA runs the bag through a rigorous ''level-three''
inspection, typically using a CTX 5000. Some British airports do the final check with ''sniffers'' that inhale vapors from the bag--explosives give off odors that are hard to eliminate--or microscopic particles on the bag. Sniffers and CAT scanners are precise but slow, but that's not a hangup at level three. Only about 1% of bags typically reach this stage.
Before the first plane leaves Terminal One, all of Britain's major airports
expect to be X-raying 100% of checked luggage. Large airports throughout
Europe plan to follow suit by 2003. Meanwhile, British airports will be
racing to install bomb detection systems for carry-on bags as well, so
Terminal One's exclusive status may not last long. FRESH FUNDS. For
American travelers, there's more good news: Security gear is heading in
volume for busy airports around the U.S., although when and where is a
secret. The FAA doesn't want to tell terrorists which airports to avoid.
The floodgates opened in October, 1996. Reacting to the fear that TWA
Flight 800 had been bombed, Congress coughed up $144 million to buy
explosives detection equipment. The FAA hopes to get at least $100 million
annually for the next few years, although no evidence of foul play was
found in Flight 800. Even if the FAA gets what it wants, it will take more
than a decade to upgrade just the 75 busiest airports. Where the money will
come from is up in the air. One possibility: a surcharge on tickets.
Britain figures its investment for screening cargo luggage amounts to less
than $1 per bag. ''So, for a couple bucks a bag, all U.S. airports could
build a tight ring around airplanes,'' says Jeffrey J. Langan, president of
Thermedics Detection Inc. in Chelmsford, Mass. Its sniffers will be used in
Terminal One to double-check carry-on bags.
Congress also freed the FAA from a legislative straitjacket that had
required equipment to be certified before it could be deployed. That has
been a big stumbling block. Seeking a foolproof solution, the FAA set tough
standards. Systems have to screen 450 bags an hour while spotting
explosives with a specific but secret minimum accuracy. So far, only
InVision's machine passes muster, and it meets the 450-bag mark only when
two $900,000 machines are cobbled together to form a system.
Now free to follow Britain's lead in putting the best available equipment
in airports until something even better comes along, the FAA is buying 54
InVision machines, 500 sniffers, and dozens of advanced X-ray systems from
American Science & Engineering, EG&G Astrophysics, Vivid, and Israel's
Magal Security Systems. So in less than a year, the U.S. has gone from
backwater status to a hot market. HYBRID CATS. New technology is already
bubbling up. The FAA is doling out development grants to old-timers and
newbies alike. L3 Communications, a Lockheed Martin spin-off, got $12
million for a new type of CAT scanner that may give InVision a run for its
money.
Not to be outflanked, InVision has bought Quantum Magnetics Inc., which
uses ''quadrupole resonance'' (QR) to spot explosives. The technology is
similar to magnetic-resonance imaging systems in hospitals. InVision
President Sergio Magistri says a CAT-QR hybrid will be even more accurate
than today's CTX and combining QR plus dual-beam X-rays could be just the
thing for screening carry-on bags. ''We expect the market to grow a lot''
and create plenty of room for new rivals, says Magistri.
All of which promises to make flying safer than ever. And if the tab is
just $2 a bag, it'll be a bargain.
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MONEY Airlines raise security at JFK terminal Gary Stoller
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12/09/97 USA Today FINAL Page 01B (Copyright 1997)
Four foreign airlines have launched an ambitious security plan that will make New York's JFK International Airport the nation's first to use explosive-detection machines to inspect every carry-on and checked bag for explosives.
Next month, the four carriers -- Japan Air Lines, Lufthansa, Air France and Korean Air Lines -- will begin receiving the initial shipments of a $1.7 million order for 13 new bomb-detection systems manufactured by Massachusetts-based Vivid Technologies.
The systems will go on line when JFK's newly constructed Terminal 1 opens in May. The four airlines will manage it and be among its main tenants. Unlike conventional X-ray machines, which are designed primarily to detect guns, knives and metallic objects, Vivid's machines can find plastic and other types of explosives, as well as weapons.
Screening all checked bags is what sets apart the Terminal 1 security plan. Checked bags are not X-rayed or hand-searched on domestic flights and on many international flights leaving the USA. On international flights, airlines mainly rely on baggage matching to ensure a passenger who checks a bag gets aboard.
Vivid's devices are a major step up from conventional X-ray machines and are used at European and Asian airports, but they are not certified by the Federal Aviation Administration in this country because their detection rate is below the FAA's standards.
The FAA, however, doesn't prevent airlines from using the equipment to upgrade security.
Two InVision CTX 5000 machines -- different devices that are certified by the FAA and can better detect plastic and other explosives -- will supplement the Vivid equipment at JFK's Terminal 1, USA TODAY has learned. The CTX 5000 machines -- 54 of which have been bought by the FAA and will be given to the airlines at major airports early next year -- will be used to inspect suspicious checked bags that cannot be properly screened by the Vivid devices.
Vivid's machines will be used along with X-ray machines and metal detectors.
vividusa.com
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Security Check on All Bags Planned for New Terminal
By Michele Salcedo. STAFF WRITER
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11/14/97 Newsday QUEENS Page A36 (Copyright Newsday Inc., 1997)
All the baggage - both carry-on and checked - that travelers bring to the new Terminal One at Kennedy Airport will be Xrayed for explosives, officials said. |
