There is a growing movement to make wider use of digital security body scanning technology at U.S. airports after a terrorist was able to evade normal detection and board a Detroit-bound airliner from Amsterdam with explosives sewn into his underwear this past Christmas. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) currently has 40 scanners in place at 19 airports. It has spent $25 million on 150 additional scanners, and plans to buy 300 more. The devices use radio waves or low-level X-rays to produce detailed images of passengers' bodies--and weapons or explosives beneath their clothes.

BusinessWeek reports that the biggest beneficiaries of enhanced scanner usage will likely be L-3 Communications and Rapiscan Systems, part of OSI Systems. Both companies are already on the TSA approval list, and have contracts that are estimated to be worth at least $100 million each.

If TSA were to install the machines at all 2,100 security lanes in the U.S., that could produce total revenue of $300 million to $400 million, according to BusinessWeek. Other manufacturers include London's Smiths Group and American Science & Engineering.

The current L-3 machines use high-frequency radio waves to render 3D images of passengers' bodies. Rapiscan uses backscatter X-rays, which create two-dimensional images of passengers, as well as weapons and explosives they may be carrying, that standard airport metal detectors don't pick up.

The use of the devices may improve security, but raises a number of issues in terms of slowing down the security process and personal privacy.

For more on scanner technology:
- see this Business Week article

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