This is part II of the article, 'Revealing All' by Simon Gradassi reprinted from the Portstrategy magazine. Today he looks at inspection systems.
CLEARLY, AS with most security measures, an X-ray based inspection system must be as non-disruptive (to the flow and throughout of vehicles) as possible. A typical inspection scenario for a fixed or relocatable system would be:
The truck drives through the check-in point. The manifest is scanned and all information about the truck and cargo is registered.
The driver drives his truck to the entrance of the tunnel and awaits scanning authorisation.
The driver drives his truck to the entrance of the tunnel and awaits scanning authorisation.
The driver drives his truck into the tunnel and then exits the vehicle and the tunnel.
The tunnel's doors close and the truck is scanned, with either the vehicle or X-ray system moving at a speed that allows the average container to be scanned in less than one minute.
The driver returns to his truck and removes it from the tunnel to await the results of the scan.
The scanner operator, who has a range of image enhancement tools at his/her disposal, inspects the X-ray image against the truck's paperwork.
If nothing looks suspicious, the driver is authorised to proceed.
In general, about 30 trucks per hour can be processed and the analysis of the contents is performed while the container is leaving the tunnel, with a number of operators using one or more of the following tools:
At least one Review Image Workstation (RIW) is used by an operator to view and process the scanned image. Figure 1 shows the image produced by a Smiths Detection HCV-Stationary system. The RIW also allows the operator to call, from a library of images, views of similar cargo in order to perform a side-by-side comparison.
A check-in workstation allows an operator to scan the manifest and to complete the data form related to the truck/container.
A Re-Check Image Workstation (RCW) provides a supervisor with the means of checking, in detail, the contents of any truck flagged as suspicious;
A Supervisor Workstation (SW) allows a supervisor to check and audit the activity of each operator.
