Rohde & Schwarz, whose personnel security scanner was only recently qualified by the Transportation Security Administration, has had some success in selling and deploying its QPS201 Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) system in the U.S. aviation security market through airport purchases of the system and expects to continue to build on these initial deployments as airports invest in capital improvements and plan for air travel to return to pre-pandemic levels, a company official says.
The company has a focus on airports “doing new infrastructure” such as new terminals and terminal reconstruction, as well as airports “bursting at the seams” as travel demand increases, Luke Olsen, business development manager for emerging technologies at R&S, told HSR in an interview on Nov. 21. There is increasing interest from airports in potentially purchasing the QPS201 as they look to future travel demand because the post-pandemic travel has been buoyed by leisure travelers while the market is still waiting on the business segment to fully return, he said.
Airports, airlines and potentially others can purchase qualified security equipment through TSA’s Capability Acceptance Process. Successful completion of the process gets equipment on the Acceptable Capabilities List for purchase and then donation to TSA.
In May, TSA qualified the QPS201, allowing the agency to purchase the scanners but given limited budgets, TSA’s scarce acquisition funding is largely going toward buying computed tomography-based systems to screen carry-on bags at airport checkpoints, and to a lesser degree credential authentication devices.
With the lack of TSA spending, the getting on ACL for equipment purchases “has been our most successful route so far,” Olsen said.
R&S has sold 14 QPS201 systems to New York’s LaGuardia Airport that have been deployed to two terminals and this week a new Terminal A is opening at Newark Liberty International Airport with eight of the AIT systems deployed. TSA has purchased two QPS201s for use at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, one being used at the agency’s Innovation Checkpoint and the other in a regular checkpoint. Denver International Airport also has a QPS201 that the airport purchased several years ago to trial.
Olsen also said he is “bullish” on airports acquiring the QPS201 for employee screening based on conversations with a number of airports. Employee screening operations don’t require TSA certification and some airports are using metal detectors and handheld screening wands to check their employees for illegal objects but are looking to up their capabilities, he said.
R&S does have some of its AIT systems in used for employee screening at a major airport in the Pacific Northwest, Olsen said.
All in all, R&S has more than 50 QPS systems deployed in the U.S., either through sales or in ongoing trials, Olsen said. Worldwide, the Germany-based company has more than 1,000 of its QPS systems deployed at more than 100 airports.
The U.S. deployments go beyond airports to include data centers, government facilities and other commercial applications, Olsen said.
Non-aviation markets also represent present growth opportunities for the QPS201, Olsen said. There is interest from critical infrastructures, correction facilities, entities concerned with loss prevention, and even data centers keen on preventing data bearing devices from entering their facilities, he said.
The company is also talking to other potential federal customers, including elsewhere in the Department of Homeland Security and other agency that need security equipment for facility protection, he said.
TSA’s primary AIT system by far at airport checkpoints is the ProVision supplied by
Leidos [LDOS]. Olsen outlined a number of benefits with the QPS201 over the ProVision, including no moving mechanical parts, no user calibration, operations at a higher frequency to obtain a better image for automated detection algorithms to assess and therefore fewer false alarms and likely fewer passenger pat downs, an existing gender-neutral screening algorithm, an arms down and slightly away from the body pose, wheelchair accessible, and easier maintenance.