ACID - Accelerated Contraband Identification by Diffraction

ACID将联合收割机两种颠覆性技术相结合，生产出最快、最可靠的自动违禁品识别安全扫描仪。创新的ACID扫描仪采用了诺丁汉特伦特大学（NTU）和克兰菲尔德大学（CU）的独特专利X射线衍射方法，以及STFC的世界领先的能量分辨X射线探测器，能够识别毒品和爆炸物等威胁和违禁材料。ACID技术是必需的，因为目前最先进的安全扫描仪无法从日常物品中可靠地区分威胁和违禁材料。这导致高误报率，手动二次扫描/搜索，这在安全检查站造成瓶颈，并且仍然无法识别许多违禁品[1]。测量穿过杂乱检查体积的透射X射线以估计可能存在的材料的密度和平均原子序数的当前方法不能提供足够的灵敏度或特异性。ACID将测量衍射的X射线通量，从而计算原子平面之间的间距或d间距，以提供独特的“化学指纹”来识别材料相。X射线衍射是一种成熟的技术，多年来一直用于实验室环境中的材料分析。到目前为止，X射线衍射一直是一种相对缓慢的技术，这使得它无法用于安全检查等领域。ACID通过使用获得专利的焦点结构几何结构（FCG）克服了这些限制，该结构几何结构提供“放大”衍射信号，HEXITEC能量分辨成像探测器在整个感兴趣的衍射信号范围内提供高速率测量，同时仅使用传统的X射线源。这种独特的技术和技术组合对于提供一种准确、快速、具有成本效益的自动安全扫描仪至关重要，该扫描仪可以识别违禁品和威胁材料。ACID项目将提供一种扫描仪，可以自动识别邮政和个人物品（如手机和笔记本电脑）中的违禁品。这将提供一种平台技术，可以立即满足在安全设施、大型活动和火车站等城市软目标上对此类物品进行筛查的日益增长的需求。该项目的合作伙伴包括Halo X-ray Technologies Ltd（NTU和CU的分拆），他们将把这种ACID扫描仪推向市场，并开发一系列自动违禁品识别扫描仪产品。随着我们进入下一个十年，有一个明确的市场驱动力来部署ACID扫描仪等技术。CLASP资金对于将英国的两个专业领域联合收割机结合起来并使ACID技术开发到足够成熟的水平以满足这个时间有限的市场至关重要。自动化ACID扫描仪不仅使安全检查更容易，更快，更令公众愉快，而且重要的是通过识别威胁和违禁品材料来满足日益增长的需求，使我们的边界，城市和建筑物更加安全。[1] http：www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/02/us-airport-security-raised-after-fake-weapons-missed-by-screenings

ACID will combine two disruptive technologies to produce the fastest and most reliable automatic contraband identification security scanner. The innovative ACID scanner uses a unique, patented X-ray diffraction method from Nottingham Trent Universities (NTU) and Cranfield (CU) Universities and a world leading energy resolving X-ray detector from STFC to be able to identify threat and contraband materials such as drugs and explosives.The ACID technology is needed as current state of the art security scanners cannot discriminate robustly threat and contraband materials from everyday items. This leads to high false alarm rates, manual secondary scans/searches, which cause bottlenecks at security checkpoints and still do not identify many contraband items [1]. The current methods of measuring the transmitted X-rays through a cluttered inspection volume to estimate the density and average atomic numbers of the materials that might be present do not provide sufficient sensitivity or specificity. ACID will measure diffracted X-ray flux to enable the calculation of the spacing between atomic planes or d spacings to provide a unique "chemical fingerprint" to identify material phase.X-ray diffraction is a well-established technique that has been used for many years to characterise materials in the laboratory environment. Until now, X-ray diffraction has been a relatively slow technique, which has prohibited its use in areas such as security screening. ACID overcomes these limitations by using patented focal construct geometry (FCG) that provides an "amplified" diffraction signal and the HEXITEC energy resolving imaging detector to provide a high rate measurement over the entire diffraction signal range of interest whilst using only conventional X-ray sources. This unique combination of technique and technology is essential to provide an accurate, fast, cost-effective and automatic security scanner that can identify contraband and threat materials.The ACID project will deliver a scanner to automatically identify contraband in postal and personal items such as phones and laptops. This will provide a platform technology that can address immediately the increasing need to screen such items at secure facilities, large events and soft urban targets such as railway stations. The project partners include Halo X-ray Technologies Ltd (a spin out of NTU and CU) who will take this ACID scanner to market and develop a range of automatic contraband identification scanner products. There is a clear market drive to have technologies such the ACID scanner deployed as we move into the next decade. The CLASP funding is essential to combine two areas of UK expertise and enable the ACID technology to be developed to a sufficiently mature level to address this time limited market. The automated ACID scanner will not only make security screening easier, faster and more pleasant for the public it will importantly meet the ever increasing need to make our borders, cities and buildings safer by identifying threat and contraband materials.[1]http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/02/us-airport-security-raised-after-fake-weapons-missed-by-screenings