2010-08-26

American Science and Engineering Z Backscatter Van™ (ZBV) Mobile Screening System


American Science and Engineering’s Z Backscatter Van (ZBV) is a low-cost, extremely maneuverable screening system built into a commercially available delivery van. The ZBV employs AS&E’s patented Z Backscatter technology, which offers photo-like images that reveal contraband that transmission X-rays miss – such as explosives (including car bombs), people and plastic weapons – and provides photo-like imaging for rapid analysis.

 ZBV in action


Z Backscatter: power, effectiveness and safety

The ABCs of Z

Proprietary Z Backscatter technology provides the highest clarity, photo-like images available, allowing accurate and rapid interpretation — unachievable with traditional transmission X-ray images alone.
Z Backscatter is AS&E's signature X-ray technology. Made possible by AS&E's patented Flying Spot, this technology is protected by more than 20 patents and is the proven approach for the discrimination of organic or "low Z" (i.e., low atomic number) materials such as explosives, drugs, cigarettes, and people, especially when hidden within a complex environment. [...]

The Compton Scattering Effect

AS&E's Z Backscatter inspection systems use electronically generated X-rays to examine an object. When X-rays interact with matter, they generally do one of three things:
  1. They pass through the object.
  2. They are absorbed by the object.
  3. They are scattered from the object.
Objects with greater density block or absorb more X-rays than objects with lesser density. These dense objects produce the characteristic shadow-like images similar to medical X-rays. These shadowgrams are produced by transmitted X-rays and are referred to as transmission X-ray images.

By comparison, a Z Backscatter image captures data from X-ray photons that are scattered from the object undergoing inspection. This primary scattering effect is known as "Compton Scattering." X-ray photons scatter differently when they encounter different types of materials. Compton scattering is material-dependent, with the lower atomic number materials scattering more strongly than the higher numbered ones. (Higher atomic number elements are more likely to absorb X-rays, either before or after being scattered.)



Sources
YouTube - Backscatter Van
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGCd0KPJcMs&feature=player_embedded
$9.5M for Special Z-Backscatter Scan-Vans to Afghanistan & Iraq
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/95m-for-special-zbackscatter-scanvans-to-afghanistan-iraq-0967/
Z Backscatter: power, effectiveness and safety
http://www.as-e.com/products_solutions/z_backscatter.asp

Related
AS&E: Advanced X-ray Inspection Systems
http://www.as-e.com/index.asp
AS&E Introduces Z Backscatter Van X-ray Screening System, Ideal for Port and Border Security, and Force Protection. - Free Online Library
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/AS&E+Introduces+Z+Backscatter+Van+X-ray+Screening+System,+Ideal+for...-a0102467950
Full-Body Scan Technology Deployed In Street-Roving Vans - Andy Greenberg - The Firewall - Forbes
http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/08/24/full-body-scan-technology-deployed-in-street-roving-vans/

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