Airbus and partner Koniku state that they have made a significant step forward in the quest for automated and contactless detection of chemical, biological and explosive threats in the aviation industry.
In partnership with the Mobile, Alabama, police department, the canine squad from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and FBI bomb technicians, Airbus led a series of field tests evaluating the performance of the Koniku explosive detection device.
It says these tests demonstrated the system was able to detect a widely used primary high explosive, far exceeding expectations and frequently outperforming existing systems currently used in security threat detection. In these double blinded tests, the system showed a perfect score in sensitivity and specificity in detecting explosive ordnance.
Based on these positive results, Airbus is preparing a series of additional tests with its airport partners, including Singapore Changi Airport and San Francisco International Airport, to validate the integration of this disruptive technology into existing airport security processes for unregulated areas.
Based on the power of odor detection and quantification found in nature, the technology uses genetically engineered odorant receptors that produce an alarm signal when they come into contact with the molecular compounds of the hazard or threat that they have been programmed to detect.
