title: Measurements and standards for bulk-explosives detection.
abstract: Recent years have seen a dramatic expansion in the application of radiation and isotopes to security screening. This has been driven primarily by increased incidents involving improvised explosive devices as well as their ease of assembly and leveraged disruption of transportation and commerce. With global expenditures for security-screening systems in the hundreds of billions of dollars, there is a pressing need to develop, apply, and harmonize standards for x-ray and gamma-ray screening systems used to detect explosives and other contraband. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has been facilitating the development of standard measurement tools that can be used to gauge the technical performance (imaging quality) and radiation safety of systems used to screen luggage, persons, vehicles, cargo, and left-behind objects. After a review of this new suite of national standard test methods, test objects, and radiation-measurement protocols, we highlight some of the technical trends that are enhancing the revision of baseline standards. Finally we advocate a more intentional use of technical-performance standards by security stakeholders and outline the advantages this would accrue.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8460, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, United States. larry.hudson@nist.gov
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bateman
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bergstrom
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cerra
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Glover
authors.forename: Ronaldo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Minniti
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seltzer
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tosh