In an effort to boost the understanding of how various pieces of equipment will interact with each other in the checked baggage handling and passenger screening operational environments in airports, last fall the Vic Thompson Company (VTC) opened its Airport Integration Test Lab where vendors will be able to have their systems and components independently evaluated.
The test lab opened in October with the initial operation of the checked baggage inspection system (CBIS) test bed, which VTC designed and built with the help of 23 industry original equipment manufacturers and system integrators. The CBIS test bed will eventually feature explosive detection systems (EDS) provided by existing manufacturers that want to have their systems evaluated.
By mid-2012 the test lab is also slated to house a passenger screening test bed.
The CBIS test bed will test the operational efficiency of the various systems and subsystems that make up a baggage handling system providing valuable feedback to vendors, particularly companies that supply EDS systems to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for inline screening of checked bags.
Currently the only facility that is similar to what the airport test lab plans to offer is the TSA’s Systems Integration Facility (TSIF), which was designed and built by VTC in 2008. The agency uses the TSIF to ensure that equipment supplied by security vendors, such as EDS and Advanced Imaging Technology, can function seamlessly in an airport operating environment.
The CBIS Test Bed meets the Planning Guidelines and Design Standards for CBIS established by the TSA, the only test bed in the country other than the TSIF that meets these standards, Vic Thompson, chairman and CEO of VTC, tells TR2 last month at the American Association of Airport Executive’s Annual Aviation Security Summit.
However, security vendors have complained that TSA frequently doesn’t provide adequate feedback on the performance of their respective systems in the TSIF because the agency wants to avoid the appearance of favoring any one company.
This adds cost and time for the vendors, says Thompson. With the CBIS Test Bed, “We’ll tell a vendor if their system does what they said it will do and if not, help them determine the best application for it,” he says.
The test bed will follow government test procedures, Thompson says.
The test bed will not perform explosives detection testing, which is a government function, Thompson says. Instead, it will test integration issues, such as how does a particular EDS system impact the rest of the baggage handling system, allowing vendors the opportunity to see what they may have to do to make their system work within the larger infrastructure, he says.
Companies will pay VTC to have their systems tested at the lab. Thompson believes that for many firms this will save them money and time by giving them a better understanding of the integration challenges of their equipment before they install it in the TSIF on their way to getting their technology certified by TSA. The current process often requires these companies to guess what the agency’s concerns are, make the fixes, and then resubmit the technology for further testing.
Peter Kant, vice president of Global Government Affairs at OSIS Systems’ [OSIS] Rapiscan Systems division, says at the same conference that some independent testing would be helpful, both for vendors’ sake and for TSA. For TSA it would mean fewer issues when it comes to field testing and for industry it increases the likelihood that their systems will work as expected when they enter the TSIF, he says.
Rapiscan provides walk-through metal detectors, AIT and Advanced Technology X-Ray systems to TSA for passenger screening at the checkpoint and is going through TSA’s certification process to have a next-generation EDS system approved for checked baggage screening.
Thompson believes his test lab will have other benefits beyond just lowering costs for the vendors seeking to get their equipment accepted by TSA. For every dollar spent on technology, it takes between $3 and $4 to support it, he says.
“I’d like to bring support costs down to a two-to-one ratio,” Thompson says.
While the CBIS Test Bed doesn’t have any EDS systems in it yet for evaluation, VTC is performing various critical operational issues including three around control architectures as well as doing subcomponent testing like how fast a sorter can work, Thompson says.
As for the Passenger Screening Test Bed, Thompson says VTC is in the process of configuring a next-generation checkpoint at the test lab based on lessons learned from TSA and its work around the world in airports.
“I believe there should be some standardization” at security checkpoints,” Thompson says. Even though checkpoints differ from airport to airport, he says “it’s how you take that [standardization] to some unique sites.”
The VTC Airport Integration Test Lab will also enable testing of larger scale integration schemes, such correlating data between carry-on and checked bags, Thompson says.
“We will be experimenting with all these things,” he says.