14 DAY TRIAL // The US Department of Homeland Security wants to further enhance security at airports. For this, the agency has set out to develop a scanner that could identify potentially explosive or flammable liquids stored in bottles.
According to a Broad Agency Announcement published on the Federal Business Opportunities website, the objective is to “develop an advanced screening device used to simultaneously analyze the liquid contents of multiple closed bottles of varying sizes and materials in order to automatically detect and distinguish explosive and flammable liquids from benign liquids.”
Speaking with reporters from Wired, Jimmie Oxley, a University of Rhode Island chemistry professor who dedicates his work to explosives, said that the DHS had a long run ahead of it until it could come up with such a scanner, especially since the agency wanted a prototype in 3 years.
The Advanced Bottled Liquid Scanner should be capable of accurately analyzing the contents of any type of bottle in less than 20 seconds, without the need to open it.
On the other hand, some experts – such as former DHS and TSA advisor George Zarur – say that it could be done if the scanner is based on the technology used for the computer thermography units currently utilized for scanning checked bags.