Streamlined Airport Checkpoint Screening for Limited Mobility Passengers

The Air Carrier Access Act of 1986 (ACAA) addresses the access to air travel for handicapped and elderly air travelers, ensuring equal access to air travel accommodations and directing equal or similar treatment to that of other travelers. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is tasked with screening all air passengers at airport checkpoints before they board outgoing aircraft. However, while the ACAA dictates that an individual with a disability must undergo the same security screening as any other member of the traveling public, under current policies, these travelers cannot be screened without subjecting them to manual searches typical of only a small percentage of other travelers. Current airport checkpoint screening consists of X-ray screening of carry-on belongings, followed by millimeter-wave based body scanning or metal detection screening for threat item alarm, followed by manual pat down for those individuals alarmed on. However, in the case of elderly or handicapped individuals with an ambulatory disability that prohibits a typical body scan (e.g. standing with arms over head for five seconds), current policy dictates that these passengers be diverted and manually screened for contraband and threat items, and all assistance devices (e.g. wheelchairs, canes, etc.) be searched for any hidden items. This step can add additional time and inconvenience for elderly and handicapped travelers and represent a general delay to the overall flow of passengers. These constraints require the development of additional capabilities that will allow rapid airport checkpoint screening of handicapped and elderly travelers with ambulatory disabilities that is on par with that of other travelers in terms of speed and convenience to the passenger. Key objectives include: Screening must be done via non-ionizing radiation, possibly leveraging currently deployed screening systems Passengers must be able to remain seated, either in wheelchair or a bench, etc. Solution should alarm on concealed threat objects of TSA interest (e.g. explosives, guns, knives, etc.) without interference from wheelchair, etc. While these key requirements are broad to allow for a variety of solution types, the optimal solution would allow for the use of automated threat detection algorithms that can be specific to emerging threats of interest and rapidly differentiate between threat items and the passenger and ambulatory aid (e.g. wheelchair), while respecting passenger privacy.