Whenever you're rushing through any airport, those precious minutes at the security check always seem to be the most stressful, where you remove all your electronics and shove it in a tray.
Well, no more of that jazz going forward, as new 3D scanning technology can identify objects while inside your bags -- including laptops.
laptop tray
Since 2017, select US airports have been testing an advanced 3D screening technology with relaxed security protocol, allowing passengers to leave items like laptops, mobile phone and toiletries inside their luggage bag.
The new scanning technology -- called computed tomography -- creates 3D images of contents inside a bag and detects items automatically that the security officers currently require passengers to remove, according to a Bloomberg report.
You had to remove a laptop or toiletries pouch from your bag while security check at the airport was because the scanner is "dumb" -- it's designed to scan for explosives, not everyday travel accessories. But the new scanners will apparently know that it's a laptop inside the bag, and not just a wide hunk of metal and plastic.
computed tomography to the rescue
The rollout of computed tomography 3D scanning machines will now begin in a wider scale in the US, with the TSA (the security agency that protects US ports) placing an order of 300 cutting edge 3D scanning machines for US $97 million with manufacturer Smiths Detection -- you might have seen one of their scanners at Indian airports, too.
According to David Pekoske, head of the TSA, it will take up to five years for approximately 2,000 old scanners to be replaced by these new ones at most US airports.
Hopefully, this technology will soon come to Indian airports as well -- beginning from high volume airports like Mumbai and Delhi very soon.