The new full-body scanners will use millimetre wave technology to detect both metallic and non-metallic objects concealed under the clothes, inside body cavities or even organs
Representational image. PTI
Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) on Monday announced that it has started trials of the full-body scanner at its Terminal 2. The new addition to the airport’s security is in line with the directive of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
“Full-body scanners can detect non-metal objects, which are hard to detect with the conventional door frame metal detector,” Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said in a statement.
DIAL has installed a full-body scanner at the security check area for trials, it said.
“The trials would be conducted on a real-time basis i.e. passengers would have to pass through it during their security check before moving to the security hold area,” the statement said.
How do the scanners work?
According to The Indian Express, the full-body scanners use millimetre wave technology to detect both metallic and non-metallic objects. Millimetre waves are electromagnetic waves at the higher end of the microwave band, lying in the extremely high frequency (EHF) range of 30-300 GHz.
Milimetre waves pass through common clothing material and reflect from any objects hidden underneath. These reflected waves are used by an imaging system to construct a 3D image on a screen, showing the size, shape and orientation of the concealed item.
According to DIAL, the scanners can detect non-metal objects such as narcotics, plastic explosives, and prohibited or illegal objects made of substances like rubber that cannot be detected by metal detectors.