System for detection and identification of suspicious contents in passenger luggage

The spate of airplane crashes in recent years greatly worries the airport authorities, especially the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the highest (unofficially) worldwide authority on aviation. Remember the Pan-Am airplane that crashed over Lockerbie after carrying aboard a bomb undiscovered by luggage scanners, before the incident is collectively forgotten.

Despite all the efforts, your baggage, and not only yours, marches through inspection reminiscent of a sieve with large holes. Here is how it works: The luggage is conveyed through screening equipment using X-ray technology which displays the contents on a screen. The picture appears in various shades of gray, and sometimes the changes in color indicate tightly packed material. Opposite the screen sits someone whose job it is to identify whether what he sees is a suspicious object.

"The current procedure is not particularly efficient," says Arnon Keret, general manager of A-Eye Advanced Vision Technologies, from Even Yehuda. The effort required of the inspector is so great that he must be replaced every twenty minutes. This is despite the fact that tests have shown he loses his concentration after only seven minutes' continuous work.

A-Eye was set up in order to find a solution to this unsolved problem, under the generous patronage of Elbit Systems, albeit not under its control (40%). Elbit "borrowed" one of its best minds for the young start-up, Dr. Ilan Tamshes, who has served the company as chief scientist since 1985. Tamshes, a fellow of prestigious Stanford University, is in charge of developing a multi-faceted technology. Tamshes, who serves as the little company's chief scientist, has been involved for the past thirty years in developing a model to replicate the human eye. This includes mathematics, physics, statistics, quantum mechanics and neuro-physiology. "The idea was to decipher the secret of human perception, 66% of which is based on sight," says Tamshes. "I discovered that we have a great mathematical secret which Nature encodes for us. It is shared by all mammals, even though they have different thought functions."

The technology based on Tamshes' theory served Elbit in military products, and later, approval was given to use it for civilian purposes. At A-Eye, they decided to use the picture imaging technology in X-ray systems in the security area. However, the company did not start on development until a strategic partner was found, and what a partner. First, however, the technology.

"The idea was to combine the technology with existing X-ray machines," explains deputy general manager for marketing Ami Rudich, "to teach the system to decide whether the picture it sees represents a suspicious object or not." It does not rule out the human role, he says, "The system's job is to aid the operator and warn about suspicious objects, but the final decision rests with him. Our system increases the chances of detecting a suspicious object, since it does not tire."

Tamshes explains that the machine is capable of studying in real-time, through a set of algorithms replicating the human system of understanding. He says that it involves unconventional artificial intelligence which combines analysis of space, color and depth.

The system has already reached the beta stage at US company EG&G Astrophysics, which dominates 50% of the worldwide screening equipment market, used not only for airport luggage scanning, but also at entrances to US government buildings, and examinations of mail intended for public figures. It is an EG&G division, a Fortune 500 company engaged in medical diagnostics, electro-optics, etc., with an annual turnover of $1.5 billion.

Most of the development process will be conducted in Israel, while the US company will be in charge of marketing and distribution. The two have an OEM contract, according to which the US company will purchase the Israeli product.

In its short life, the young company has managed to gain not only a strategic partner, but also a prestigious development grant from the FAA, which was so enthralled by the Israeli development that it accorded it an R&D grant of $519,000 for the project, with EG&G registered as the main contractor, and the Israeli company as sub-contractor. "It is very rare for this to happen to a foreign company," says Keret. The tremendous advantage in FAA's participation in the project stems from the authority's ability to oblige airports to purchase the system.

Another, less strict authority, was also thrilled by the technology. "Someone senior in the British cabinet," says Keret, who considered that the product met his country's criteria and who had the power to dictate to the European Union, and oblige the member countries to install similar systems. "We need to persuade two bodies already convinced," says Keret.

It is therefore not surprising that the US colleagues are excited. The market is enormous, according to company president Tom Schorling, who visited Israel several weeks ago. "We have about 10,000 machines in use, and we are the largest company in this field. However, we do not have more than half the market, and therefore want the technology to suit other machines as well." According to Schorling, the airport security systems market stands at $100 billion.

Published by Israel's Business Arena November 23, 1998