Operator Assist (OA)

What is it.

"Operator Assist" is an explosives and contraband detection option that is available on all LS systems with our E-Scan option.

What it does.

"Operator Assist" helps the operator by highlighting objects of specific density & area (mass) and atomic number without stopping the belt.

• A red ellipse is drawn over the object of concern.
• The analysis is done in real time.

Operator Assist sees the obvious threat. Explosive device consisting of explosive, timer, detonator, and battery.

Operator Assist also sees the hidden threat. Do you see the plastic explosive in the laptop computer?

How it works.

The Operator Assist algorithm looks at three basic criteria.

• Atomic Number (Z) of the object must be 7 through 9 or 13 through 14.
• Object must have a minimum area (number of pixels).
• Object must have a minimum density.

If an object meets the criteria, it is marked as a potential explosive threat.

Any given image (bag or parcel) may contain multiple threat objects.

• A typical image can consist of up to 800 (for low-resolution mode) or 1024 (for high-resolution mode) vertical lines of information.
• The Pentium computer will analyze the image data in each 150 vertical lines.
• The relative area of the multiple objects will determine the location of the ellipse(s).

We use a "staggered" scan so that only one ellipse will be drawn on an object. Even if the size of that object exceeds 150 lines of data.

• In a "staggered scan the last 50 lines of the previous image data is combined with the next 100 lines of image data.
• If the previous 50 lines of image data are "marked" as a threat, the ellipse size is increased to include these 100 lines of image data (i.e. one large ellipse vs. two small ellipses).
• If the previous 50 lines and the current 100 lines "combined" constitute a threat an ellipse is also drawn.