We’ve all done the drill: standing in long lines at the airport security checkpoint in our stocking feet, hoping we pass inspection quickly. For those travelers requiring additional inspection, the Transportation Security Administration is testing a new type of x-ray machine that sends the now infamous travelers’ “naked pictures” to screeners in a back room. This controversy has led to some reworking of the technology, but most travelers would just as soon avoid any potential embarrassment.

One small company may have found a publicly acceptable way to accurately scan travelers for contraband without touching them or x-raying them.

The People Portal II

The People Portal II (PPII) is the brainchild of Tex Yukl, technology inventor of Seattle-based EMIT (Electro-Magnetic Impedance Translation) Technologies LLC. This full-body scanning portal displays a nondescript wireframe body image that accommodates even the most modest travelers, while helping security personnel locate weapons, drugs, and other concealed contraband in a matter of seconds. The PPII’s unique attributes have attracted interest from U.S. government agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Justice, as well as some foreign governments.

CCAT Offers Support

EMIT’s unique technology has also attracted funding from the Center for Commercialization of Advanced Technology (CCAT), which is sponsored by the Department of Defense, because of PPII’s potential military and security uses.

With programs at California State University–San Bernardino and San Diego State University, the CCAT program actively seeks promising technologies invented by small entrepreneurs, academic researchers, and government labs and then guides the inventors or entrepreneurs through technology transfer processes that result in products that can be used by homeland security personnel.

CCAT initially funded the PPII prototype in 2004; however, the technology itself traces its roots to the late 1980s, when Yukl invented a handheld scanning device that used low-energy microwaves designed primarily to seek out drugs in various hiding places, including beverage containers and “mules”—people or animals that ingest balloons or small packets of illegal drugs to hide them from routine inspections, especially at border crossings. Yukl’s handheld system was used in a drug-smuggling interdiction in Miami 1991. The case was later prosecuted as the Pony Malta case.

The FAA Likes What It Sees

The handheld scanner came to the attention of the FAA by routine “bird dogging.” “Many large organizations—private and government—have ‘bird dogs’ that are always seeking new ways to solve complex problems,” said Curt Lew, president of EMIT Technologies. “They find them through patent searches and their network relationships.”

Yukl helped to form EMIT in 1989 specifically to work on the technology’s security applications requested by, and partially funded by, the FAA. At the agency’s request, Yukl utilized the technology inherent in the handheld device in a full-body scanning system in 2000 and called it the People Portal. The People Portal was sent to the FAA test center in Atlantic City and later to the Lewiston, Idaho, airport for human throughput evaluation.

The company used the FAA’s comments and specifications to engineer PPII; the prototype debuted in 2004 and positioned the company to win the Frost and Sullivan “Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award” that same year.

Proven Technology, Proven Safe

The non-intrusive PPII energy format has been shown to be entirely safe for humans. In fact, the low-energy microwaves emitted by the system during operation are less than that of overhead fluorescent lights.

Unlike other scanning technologies (such as x-rays and metal detectors), PPII shows operators only the location of objects that are neither living nor part of clothing. “Our unique dielectric process allows us to measure the electromagnetic energy movement through materials,” said Lew. “This gives us the data to accurately detect and locate potential threats and eventually categorize the material makeup; however, the People Portal II does not attempt to identify what those objects are.”

For example, the PPII can easily find a smooth non-metallic item strapped around the body of an individual trying to board a plane. It cannot tell airport security guards whether the item is plastic explosives, a medical device, or a vinyl money belt, but it can show them exactly where to look to determine the nature of the object. “The People Portal II allows airport security to search for all detected objects quickly and without operators,” Lew explained.

Another advantage of the PPII is that it can scan people’s shoes for potential threats while they are wearing them.

While the prototype for the PPII continued to develop, so did the need for financial resources to keep the project on schedule. The CCAT program stepped in with additional funding in 2006. “The CCAT funds certainly contributed to many of the processes from a financial and product development perspective,” said Lew. “This added to advancing the commercializing steps, and now we’re almost ready to launch the People Portal II into the market. CCAT has also been active in networking and seeking new prospects for us within the government and elsewhere.”

PPII: The Future

PPII is expected to be ready for testing in FAA labs in Atlantic City by the beginning of 2008. If FAA testing is successful, this technology could be approved for trial runs in airports by the TSA and other secure facilities, such as corrections facilities, government buildings, and high-tech centers in the very near future.

The system could also be used to detect contraband entering the building and potentially stolen items leaving a building. EMIT is also exploring expanded applications through joint ventures such as partnerships with door manufacturers. The PPII is expected to be available for sale to government agencies and private organizations by the end of 2007.