FAA considers using security scanner that can see through clothes.


By Matt Markovich, Tech Live Seattle bureau chief
February 4, 2002






In the fight against terrorism, the Federal Aviation Administration is looking at a number of technologies that effectively strip people of their clothing. One way is a holographic scanner capable of producing 3D, computer-generated, fully nude images of people who pass through the device.


A circular Holographic Imaging System has been in development at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Kennewick, Washington, since 1989. The FAA is considering the scanner as a next-generation replacement for magnetic scanners now being used in US airports.


The technology is available now. The problem is that it's so good it leaves little to the imagination. It can't produce a skeletal image like an X-ray, but it can produce a fully nude picture of whoever is being scanned.


"It will not penetrate the skin; you cannot see inside the body," said Doug McMakin, one of the PNNL scientists developing the scanner. "We have a linear array that stands vertically, and it scans around the person 360 degrees, so we get 360-degree coverage."