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Passive Millimeter Wave

Innovation & Technology

Passive Millimeter Wave (MMW) is a flexible, mobile technology that can detect the characteristics of explosives hidden on the body from a distance. The technology detects threats by analyzing the energy generated by the human body. It is non-invasive and completely safe.

The image displayed for the Passive MMW operators resembles the type of image you would see on a video camera. An indicator produces a strength bar from green to red that indicates the presence/absence of anomalies that could have security implications, including the possible presence of explosives.

TSA partnered with the U.S Coast Guard and the Staten Island Ferry in New York in April 2007, and in July 2007 with AMTRAK at Union Station in Washington D.C. to use tripod-mounted Passive MMW technology. Since then, TSA tested the technology in public areas of Denver International Airport and Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport during the 2008 Democratic and Republican national conventions. In April 2009, TSA began testing and evaluating Passive MMW units at Boston’s Logan International Airport (BOS). In June 2009, TSA plans to test Passive MMW at the NY-NJ Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) station in partnership with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ).