12:00 pm, September 15, 2008
University seeks partners for security scanner
By Claire Shoesmith
Engineers at the University of Manchester are seeking a commercial partner to help produce a scanning system that could be used in airports to detect items like knives and explosives hidden in people’s shoes.
The device, developed in Manchester by a team lead by professor Wuqiang Yang, is attracting significant interest in the US, much more so than in the UK, according to a spokesman for the university. As a result, Yang is hoping to trial the device in Dallas Fort Worth airport soon.
The spokesman said that once the device has been properly developed it would be cheap to buy – only a few thousand pounds - and could be installed under carpets, tiles or flooring in airports to detect shoe bombs without the use of radar or cameras.

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