In 1998, an L-1011 jet blew up at the Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey. A bomb placed in an aluminum cargo container inside the plane exploded and tore out the left side of the plane just in front of the wing.

Captured on video, the dramatic explosion was not an act of terror. Instead, it was an act of security, carried out by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) researchers working in an array of laboratories housed at the airport. Initiated to investigate the ability of aircraft to withstand explosions, the continuing 10-year research project aims to define for aircraft designers the threats they have to guard against.

The L-10ll test led to the development of hardened cargo containers in which baggage could be stored. Made of advanced materials, these containers have proven effective in containing powerful bomb blasts. The hardened containers have not passed into practical use because they weigh 100 pounds more than conventional aluminum containers and would add too much weight to an aircraft. But researchers are continuing to experiment with these hardened materials, looking for lighter alternatives.

Atlantic City International Airport became the home of the FAA's Aviation Security Laboratory (ASL) in 1992. A plaque in the lobby dedicates the facility to the memory of those who died in the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. Today, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) operates the 8-acre ASL facility, having taken over the FAA's security responsibilities since the Sept. 11 attacks.

ASL plays two security roles. As a certification laboratory for transportation security technologies, the lab tests explosive detection systems (EDS), magnetometers and other security devices to approve their use in transportation facilities.

In its less publicized role, the lab also researches and develops new transportation security technologies, — sometimes on its own, sometimes in cooperation with the industry.

Security technology must pass muster with ASL before being deployed at airports. The tests are grueling and thorough, according to Sergio Magistri, president and CEO of InVision Technologies Inc., Newark, Calif., which manufactures one of two EDS systems to have successfully completed the ASL testing regimen and received approval for deployment. “The testing lasts a couple of days, and they run several thousand bags through the EDS machines,” Magistri says. “Some of the bags have explosives — of different kinds. Some bags have no explosives. The test computes how many explosives the equipment detects. If you detect over a certain threshold, you pass. The test also considers the alarm rates on the bags without explosives.”

The laboratory tests evaluate speed and operational capabilities. Equipment that passes this stage of testing goes into airport pilot programs that examine reliability.

Luggage for explosive detection tests come from the ASL lost bag room, a 15,000 sq. ft. low-rise structure lined with floor-to-ceiling racks, each packed with suitcases of all shapes and sizes. These are real bags, packed by real airline passengers. Air carriers ship the bags to ASL if owners fail to claim them. ASL technicians examine the bags, noting commonly packed items and methods of packing. “It's important to know what is in day-to-day bags,” says Randy Null, associate undersecretary of TSA and the organization's chief technology officer.

In the course of explosive detection tests, ASL technicians construct mock bombs using materials from a classified list of potential explosive components. They hide their handiwork in baggage selected from the lost bag room and send the baggage to labs for test screening sessions.

In a recent demonstration at ASL, a technician built a mock bomb, placed it inside a boom-box radio, packed it in a brown leather suitcase, and cushioned it with clothing. The process took about 10 minutes.

Called an Improvised Explosive Device or IED, the mock bomb imitated the type of explosive that a terrorist might construct from materials that are relatively easy to acquire.

Different kinds of computer tomography X-ray machines in labs across the facility found the mock bomb. The machines included those manufactured by InVision and L-3 Communications, New York, which have been approved for airport use. Test equipment also spotted the mock bomb. While ASL personnel decline to reveal the manufacturers of equipment being tested, they were eager to discuss their Argus research program.

InVision and L-3 Communications manufacture TSA-approved computer tomography X-ray machines the size of minivans. Connected in networks, dozens of these machines eventually form in-line baggage screening systems at airports capable of accommodating the size and weight of such an installation. But this equipment is simply too large for most airports.

The Argus program tests smaller machines that may make a better match for the structural requirements of small airports. Argus machines examine baggage more slowly, while providing the same level of advanced resolution and imaging necessary for explosives detection. So far, Argus equipment remains in the research phase, and the equipment has not undergone operational testing in airports.

Much of the work done at ASL involves new security technologies that may eventually show up in practical applications. Among the technology being researched are enhanced magnetometers and ticket lickers.

ASL is currently evaluating technology designed to enhance the weapons detection capabilities of magnetometers commonly employed in airports. “We have a 95 percent confidence level in the data we've collected on these machines,” Null says.

While TSA refuses to define an enhanced magnetometer, about 1,000 of these machines have been deployed for airport tests. Comments by ASL personnel about the technology imply that its goal is finding objects composed of materials of a certain mass. In other words, enhanced magnetometry may be a technology capable of finding weapons made of materials other than metal.

ASL is also experimenting with a device called a ticket licker, which is an explosives trace detection technology based on ion mobility spectrometry or IMS. Currently at use in airports, IMS technology typically takes the form of a computer-sized machine on a rolling cart. To use the device, a technician wipes down a bag with a cotton swab, which collects microscopic particles attached to the surface. The IMS detector then analyzes the particles and determines whether or not explosive materials are present.

The ticket licker applies this analysis to an airline ticket. A ticket is inserted into a slot on top of the machine. The machine draws the ticket in, conducts a trace detection test, and ejects the ticket through another slot. So far, the concept has no practical use, but ASL researchers wonder if the machine could not eventually serve as a way to dispense boarding passes while determining if the ticket's owner recently handled an explosive material.

Another trace detection device under investigation at ASL is a portal developed to complement magnetometers at passenger checkpoints. The portal forms an arch about three feet long. A passenger enters the portal and stops while the machine squirts several strong jets of air up from the floor of the machine. The puffs of air blow trace materials on the person into a chimney at the top of the machine, where a trace detection analysis is conducted.

The process works, but so far requires too long a wait by passengers to be considered practical.

Why would ASL pursue such impractical technologies? “Part of the job is figuring out how to integrate security into airport traffic flow without compromising customer service,” Null says, pointing to a “back-scatter” X-ray machine currently undergoing pilot testing in airports.

Backscatter X-ray technology uses X-rays that can penetrate clothing, but not skin, to create an image of what a person might conceal under his or her clothing. The process takes about five minutes, but clearly reveals objects hidden in clothing. Unfortunately, the technology also images an essentially nude body.

While the time required to screen and the revealing images that result both argue against the general use of this technology in airports, it is being pilot tested as a method of searching selectees who have set off magnetometers at passenger checkpoints.

Since the 1998 L-1011 test, ASL has researched hundreds of different security technologies related to aviation as well as other modes of transportation. While only a few have proven both effective and practical, work continues under a 10-year research plan. The primary goal of the plan is to protect air travel from terrorists and other criminals. But the secondary goal is important too: return speed and convenience to air travel.