Screening technologies that work
Truly effective technologies for detecting explosives during passenger, baggage and cargo screening are currently used on a large scale only at some airports and only during pre-flight screening. The YPH Group of Companies is now ready to offer a whole range of technical means and methods for detecting and recognizing explosives and other hazardous substances that can be used at any transport infrastructure facilities and mass gatherings.
During pre-flight screening at airports, personal belongings and baggage are wiped with a special disposable napkin and placed in an explosive trace analyzer. Only this procedure is truly effective and has been used for decades all over the world. But it seems impossible to extend it to screening at entrances to the same airports or, even more so, at railway stations or subways. There are at least two reasons for this - the cost is too high and the speed of analysis is too low. Getting a new disposable wipe, wiping the inspection object with it, carrying it to the analyzer, inserting it into a special hole, waiting for the analysis result, disposing of the wipe - all this together takes up to 30 seconds or more. Even taking into account the relatively high qualification of the employees of the aviation security services. At the same time, the cost of one such wipe can be 30, 50, and even 100 rubles, depending on the analyzer model and the appetites of the supplier.
The problem of cost was solved for the first time on the market of explosive detectors in our ion-drift detector "Kerber" and in its modern modification "Kerber-T", where ordinary aluminum foil is used instead of special wipes. Our example was then followed by other manufacturers of similar equipment.
But this does not solve the problem of speed. Therefore, everywhere where explosive detectors are used in mass inspection, they are used only in the search mode for explosive vapors, "sniffing" the inspection objects with them. Regardless of the detector model used, this works for searching for a very small list of substances - much narrower than what needs to be detected. Even the Kerber-T, the only detector of explosives and toxic substances capable of instantly switching between vapor and trace search modes, is used in practice almost exclusively for sniffing.
When solving the problem of searching for explosives, only trace search is still effective and efficient in real conditions. But at sites with a large passenger flow, only such a technology can take root that:
- Does not require disposable consumables at all, even very cheap ones, because it is simply too long.
- Retains its effectiveness and speed regardless of the qualifications of the employees at the inspection, that is, it is maximally free from the influence of the human factor.
One of such technologies is implemented in our automatic detectors of explosives and narcotic substances of the Kerber-ST series. For over 5 years, they have been successfully used at restricted facilities of the Rosatom State Corporation, providing mass personalized screening of individuals for traces of explosives. The screening time does not exceed 5 seconds, and no consumables or personnel intervention are required - the entire procedure does not involve anyone other than the person being screened.
Since 2019, Kerber-ST detectors have been entering the civilian market. Thus, the Kerber-ST2 embeddable Detector of Explosives and Hazardous Chemical Agents as part of the IntelliMax TRIO integrated screening complex was certified in 2021 for compliance with the requirements for the functional properties of technical means of ensuring transport security. The complex was tested and proved its effectiveness in the Moscow Metro, Pulkovo and Simferopol airports, and a number of other transport and cultural facilities.
Meanwhile, the Kerber-ST detectors, with all their advantages, only provide inspection of individuals. To detect traces of explosives on personal belongings, baggage and cargo, a different approach is required, the search for which was successful only recently.
We have completely rethought the technology of detecting explosives, making a truly effective and exceptionally easy-to-use device. And this device has become part of our most advanced gas detector to date, the Segment.
Detector for Hazardous Chemical Agents and Explosives Premium Segment, designed to detect chemical threats, has already proven itself as an exceptionally reliable and powerful tool for detecting and recognizing hazardous substances. An entire system of these sensors was tested in the Moscow Metro in 2020 for six months in continuous round-the-clock mode. Segment sensors are already used to ensure the safety of the most important security facilities in Russia.
Now we have supplemented the "Segment" with a simple and cheap inspection device - a receptor, which you need to touch or wipe the object of inspection. After that, the receptor is placed in a special slot on the gas detector body - and in a couple of seconds the result is ready. After automatic cleaning, the receptor is again absolutely clean and ready for a new measurement. Of course, this is similar to the practice of aviation security services, only hundreds of times cheaper and tens of times faster, regardless of the operator's qualifications. And this makes this technology truly applicable on a mass scale everywhere, including the busiest stations of the Moscow metro during rush hour.
In the hands of an employee at the inspection post, instead of a fragile, weighty and expensive gas analyzer - a compact device the size and weight of an electric razor. Several such receptors can be used simultaneously with one "Segment", which increases the average inspection speed several times. The human factor is reduced to an absolute minimum - the "Segment" still does not contain any control bodies, and the employee's qualifications do not affect the quality of the inspection in any way.
"Segment" is supplied both as a separate device for desktop or wall mounting (including all-weather design), and as part of the Chemical and Biological Threat Monitoring Station "Segment-Gamma", which combines the functions of continuous monitoring of the ambient air for the presence of hazardous chemical and biological agents and detection of explosives during inspection.
Inspection technologies implemented by the devices of the "Kerber-ST" and "Segment" series really work in conditions of mass inspection. And this is where we should end their comparison with the current practices of using explosive detectors.