Rapiscan SystemsRapiscan Systems is an American privately held company that specialises in walk-through metal detectors and X-ray machines for screening airport luggage and cargo. The company is owned by OSI Systems. The company headquarters, in Torrance, California, USA, is the primary location for research and development, engineering, manufacturing, sales and marketing, and customer service support. Their European headquarters, and home to Rapiscan Systems Limited, is in Salfords in Surrey, England, near Gatwick Airport. The...
Airport securityAirport security includes the techniques and methods used in an attempt to protect passengers, staff, aircraft, and airport property from malicious harm, crime, terrorism, and other threats. Aviation security is a combination of measures and human and material resources in order to safeguard civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference. Unlawful interference could be acts of terrorism, sabotage, threat to life and property, communication of false threat, bombing, etc. DescriptionLarge numbers of people p...
Full body scannerA full-body scanner is a device that detects objects on or inside a person's body for security screening purposes, without physically removing clothes or making physical contact. Unlike metal detectors, full-body scanners can detect non-metal objects, which became an increasing concern after various airliner bombing attempts in the 2000s. Some scanners can also detect swallowed items or items hidden in the body cavities of a person. Starting in 2007, full-body scanners started supplementing metal detectors at ai...
Transportation Security AdministrationThe Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has authority over the security of transportation systems within and connecting to the United States. It was created as a response to the September 11 attacks to improve airport security procedures and consolidate air travel security under a combined federal law enforcement and regulatory agency. The TSA develops key policies to protect the U.S. transportation system, including highways, ...Millimeter wave scannerA millimeter wave scanner is a whole-body imaging device used for detecting objects concealed underneath a person’s clothing using a form of electromagnetic radiation. Typical uses for this technology include detection of items for commercial loss prevention, smuggling, and screening for weapons at government buildings and airport security checkpoints. It is one of the common technologies of full body scanner used for body imaging; a competing technology is backscatter X-ray. Millimeter wave scanners come in t...
X-ray machineAn X-ray machine is a device that uses X-rays for a variety of applications including medicine, X-ray fluorescence, electronic assembly inspection, and measurement of material thickness in manufacturing operations. In medical applications, X-ray machines are used by radiographers to acquire x-ray images of the internal structures (e.g., bones) of living organisms, and also in sterilization.
BackscatterIn physics, backscatter (or backscattering) is the reflection of waves, particles, or signals back to the direction from which they came. It is usually a diffuse reflection due to scattering, as opposed to specular reflection as from a mirror, although specular backscattering can occur at normal incidence with a surface. Backscattering has important applications in astronomy, photography, and medical ultrasonography. The opposite effect is forward scatter, e.g. when a translucent material like a cloud diffuses s...
Ionizing radiationIonizing radiation, also spelled ionising radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have enough energy per individual photon or particle to ionize atoms or molecules by detaching electrons from them. Some particles can travel up to 99% of the speed of light; their electromagnetic waves are on the high-energy portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Gamma rays, X-rays, and the higher energy ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum are ionizing radiation. Lower energy ultravi...
Compton scatteringCompton scattering (or the Compton effect) is the quantum theory of scattering of a high-frequency photon through an interaction with a charged particle, usually an electron. Specifically, when the photon interacts with a loosely bound electron, it releases the electron from an outer valence shell of an atom or molecule. The effect was discovered in 1923 by Arthur Holly Compton while researching the scattering of X-rays by light elements, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927. The Compton effect si...
X-rayAn X-ray is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 nanometers to 10 picometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range of 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz (3×10 Hz to 3×10 Hz) and photon energies in the range of 100 eV to 100 keV, respectively. X-rays were discovered in 1895 by the German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who named it X-radiation to signify an ...
Electronic Privacy Information CenterThe Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is an American independent nonprofit research center established in 1994 to protect privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic values in the information age. Based in Washington, D.C., their mission is to "secure the fundamental right to privacy in the digital age for all people through advocacy, research, and litigation." EPIC believes that privacy is a fundamental right, the internet belongs to people who use it, and there's a responsible way to use technolo...
RadiographyRadiography is an imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical (diagnostic radiography and therapeutic radiography) and industrial radiography. Radiographic techniques are also used in airport security, where "body scanners" generally use backscatter X-ray. To create an image in conventional radiography, a beam of X-rays is produced by an X-ray generator and then projected t...*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.