Source: New Scientist.

    A $500,000 award has been announced for any solution that will make airport security checks quicker and simpler for passengers.

    The ¡°Clear Prize¡± was announced by Clear, of New York, US ¨C a firm that already offers quicker checkpoint services at airports for a fee.

    ¡°We¡¯re looking at moving things that are conceptual or in the lab to things that we can deploy,¡± says company CTO Jason Slibeck.

    The cash prize will go to any individual, company or institution that can get customers through airport security 15% faster, at a cost of less than 25 cents per passenger, using technology or processes that will be approved by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). If passengers do not need to remove their clothes or shoes, for example, it could speed up processing significantly.

    Technology boost

    Slibeck says that over 150 individuals, start-ups, defense contractors and universities have shown an interest in the prize, which was announced on 13 February. Novel screening technologies seem likely to emerge as key to faster processing, he adds.

    One promising procedure is mass spectroscopy, which involves analysing the mass-charge ratio of ions on a swab sample taken from a passenger¡¯s clothing or air collected from around them. The method can quickly spot traces of substances including explosives or drugs.

    Another is terahertz scanning ¨C passing low-energy electromagnetic waves through passengers and their clothing or by detecting differences in electromagnetic waves naturally emitted by the body and by concealed objects. By getting passengers to walk through a series of cameras that detect terahertz waves security agents can quickly tell whether they are concealing anything beneath their clothes.

    Hidden cash

    ¡°If there is something disrupting the emissions, we see it,¡± says Gary Tryon of Brijot Imaging Systems, one of several companies to have developed such detection technology. Tryon says the technology can quickly spot plastics, glass, narcotics, explosives and even wads of cash hidden beneath clothing.

    In December 2007, the company was awarded a contract worth more than $2 million by the UK government to install its electromagnetic detection systems at several UK airports and ports.

    Tryon thinks the company could develop a screening process that would meet the requirements of Clear Prize, but says gaining TSA approval could be the hardest part for entrants. ¡°It¡¯s one thing to have a product that works,¡± Tyron says. ¡°It¡¯s another to get approval from government agencies.¡±