ALERT | Awareness and Localization of Explosive-Related Threats

BAA 13-05 Advanced X-ray Material Discrimination

This BAA will advance aviation security and improvised explosive threat detection by providing enabling technology for subsequent incorporation into EDS and AT screening equipment by future development acquisitions.

The primary technical focus is significantly enhancing capabilities for improvised explosive threat detection by reducing false alarm rates on multiple improvised explosive threat classes with improved probability of detection, while increasing screening throughput, supporting TSA’s risk-based screening, and reducing equipment life-cycle costs.

This BAA seeks new system solutions employing revolutionary technologies capable of offering significant enhancement to the overall detection capability metrics. Minor or incremental improvements are not of interest for this BAA. Transition periods of 4-5 years are anticipated; however S&T has interest in technologies that may offer nearer term retrofit capability into the deployed EDS and AT platforms.

Achieving revolutionary enhancements in improvised explosive threat detection requires new techniques for distinguishing the stream-of-commerce bag clutter from improvised explosive threats.

Towards these goals, this BAA solicits responses to the following five task areas:

1) Task Area 1: X-ray Test Bed Prototypes
2) Task Area 2: Supporting Analytical Tasks
3) Task Area 3: Test and Evaluation Support
4) Task Area 4: Architectural Components
5) Task Area 5: X-Ray System Architectural Design Concepts