Getting to the airport is already enough of a hassle, but I think the breaking point really comes down to walking on the cold epoxy floors in only your socks through security screening. Ask me to take out my laptop fine, but my shoes off? No thank you! Fortunately, Homeland Security is working on high-definition advanced imaging technology shoe scanners that may relieve us from removing our shoes one day.
Following a record volume of three million air travelers on Sunday, December 1, 2024, The Department of Homeland Security understands the urgency to ensure a smooth security screening. Therefore, the department is working behind the scenes on new technology, such as the shoe scanners, to improve effectivity and efficiency while accommodating the rising number of passengers.
Why do you have to take your shoes off at airport security?
Passengers (without TSA PreCheck) have been required to take their shoes off during security screening since August 2006. This mandate was influenced not only by the after effects of 9/11, but by a passenger named Richard Reid who attempted to detonate an explosive in his shoe.
How does shoe scanning technology work?
The technology in the shoe scanner is being developed alongside the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the same laboratory behind the holographic millimeter wave scanning technology currently used in airports worldwide.
The shoe scanners will include similar but enhanced technology with millimeter waves that will pass through shoe soles when passengers step onto the scanner to obtain data sent for review through a detection algorithm. The current prototype scans in a matter of two seconds and processes the image in five seconds.
Homeland Security hopes to eventually install these scanners into the floors of screening systems to simultaneously screen passengers with their shoes still on.
“Adding the shoe scanner in an airport setting could replace the inconvenient pre-boarding ritual of removing shoes at the checkpoint and potentially speed up the screening process by 15-20 percent,” said Bill Frain, CEO of Liberty Defense, a concealed weapons detection company. “Streamlining security processes, while still detecting threats and keeping people safe, is a win-win proposition.”
What’s the status of the new shoe scanners?
Technical evaluations of the system and a prototype of the shoe scanning algorithm have been performed by the S&T Transportation Security Laboratory. Moreover, the scanner was licensed to Liberty Defense Holdings, Ltd.
Homeland Security expects to begin planning an airport shoe scanner demonstration in FY26 Q3 to actually launch and detect threats with shoes on in FY27 Q4 to received feedback from passengers and TSA officers.
Until then, you’ll just have to keep your shoes on!