Uploaded November 2012 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago
Instead of getting through security by submitting to pat downs at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, travelers can now choose a more hands-off approach: walking through a full-body screening machine that can peer right through a person’s outfit. The device was originally created by engineer Doug McMakin and his team at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as a means of virtually frisking terrorists. The technology uses radio waves to produce 3-D scans of passengers’ bodies, the same way radar captures images of planets’ surfaces. As passengers stand still with their hands up, two rotating antennas send out radio waves. The waves bounce off the skin and are collected by a receiver. Metals, plastics, and liquids between the skin and the receiver show up in images that are sent to security officials in another room.
McMakin’s system has already made a splash with another crowd: clothing retailers. Machines have been placed at Fashion Bug stores and outlets around the country. The screener, named Intellifit, rests inside a virtual dressing room, a seven-foot-diameter circular enclosure placed in the middle of the store. The device allows customers to get instant printouts of their jeans sizes.
Read the full story at: discovermagazine.com/technology/is-that-a-gun-in-your-pocket-or-are-you-a-size-2
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Instead of getting through security by submitting to pat downs at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, travelers can now choose a more hands-off approach: walking through a full-body screening machine that can peer right through a person’s outfit. The device was originally created by engineer Doug McMakin and his team at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as a means of virtually frisking terrorists. The technology uses radio waves to produce 3-D scans of passengers’ bodies, the same way radar captures images of planets’ surfaces. As passengers stand still with their hands up, two rotating antennas send out radio waves. The waves bounce off the skin and are collected by a receiver. Metals, plastics, and liquids between the skin and the receiver show up in images that are sent to security officials in another room.
McMakin’s system has already made a splash with another crowd: clothing retailers. Machines have been placed at Fashion Bug stores and outlets around the country. The screener, named Intellifit, rests inside a virtual dressing room, a seven-foot-diameter circular enclosure placed in the middle of the store. The device allows customers to get instant printouts of their jeans sizes.
Read the full story at: discovermagazine.com/technology/is-that-a-gun-in-your-pocket-or-are-you-a-size-2
—
ABOUT DISCOVER:
Discover is your source for science that matters, makes sense and is a lot of fun, too.
Visit us at: discovermagazine.com
FOLLOW US:
Facebook: facebook.com/DiscoverMag
Twitter: twitter.com/DiscoverMag
Instagram: instagram.com/discover.magazine
SUPPORT US:
Subscribe to Discover: bit.ly/34seAFT
Sign up for our newsletter: discovermagazine.com/newsletter-signup
My Science Shop: myscienceshop.com
STAY CURIOUS!
