Two-year old startup Synapse Technology, which has developed an artificial intelligence-based threat detection platform that works with existing X-Ray systems used to screen carry-on bags regardless of the vendor, has received its first orders for its technology for aviation security.
Japan’s Osaka Airport ordered Syntech ONE 200 Series for multiple passenger lanes, Synapse said in late March. The value of the order wasn’t disclosed.
Separately, in early April, the company said the U.S. Air Force has awarded it a research and development contract for using AI in X-Ray systems to detect improvised explosive devices at security checkpoints at Air Force bases. The Air Force contract was awarded by AFWERX, an innovation branch of the Air Force that rapidly engages with industry, academia and start-ups using non-traditional approaches.
The Syntech AI technology automatically detects threats in bags and items going through an X-Ray machine and provides alerts and indicators to the operator, Peter Kant, CEO of Synapse, told HSR in an interview in late March.
Kant previously ran the federal business for SRI International and before that led global sales, marketing and government affairs for Rapiscan Systems, which is the security business of OSI Systems [OSIS]. Kant was named CEO of Synapse in January after having served on the company’s board.
The Syntech ONE technology addresses the “cognitive load” that is put on screeners who are “searching for a needle in a haystack,” Kant said. Advances in AI the past two years, particularly in deep learning and computer processing, have enabled Syntech ONE, he said.
Kant said that a year ago the company demonstrated for him the ability of its technology to detect components of a gun across different cluttered bags.
“This was science-fiction when I was at Rapiscan,” he said. “We can do it across networked machines by comparing images or in just one machine.”
Despite the order from Osaka, Kant said initially the greater opportunities are in other markets with security checkpoints such as prisons, government buildings, and schools. Their main concerns are weapons and knives, he said.
The company has sold its technology for critical infrastructure and law enforcement applications to multiple customers in the Northeast U.S. and has done, or is doing, pilots with airports in Europe and Japan, he said.
The technology has been evaluated by the Transportation Security Administration at an airport checkpoint in a live environment to look for weapons and knives and the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service also piloted a beta unit, Kant said.
Rather than integrate with the proprietary interfaces of the X-Ray systems of various vendors, Kant said Syntech ONE’s algorithms are “plug-in” outside the imaging machines with the software installed on the operator’s monitor.
“A lot of customers want a third-party capability” that helps them get more out of their existing equipment, Kant said.
In addition to increasing security, Kant said the speed of the technology helps increase throughput of carry-on bags being screened.