Originally Posted by
williamsg4713
I'm in over my head in this thread. What's an SPO-7? What do you mean by taking it from passive to active?
This thread on the TSA blog may help.
Think of the MMW devices as video cameras. Where video cameras capture visible light and some infrared, the MMW captures "light" (radio waves) outside the visible spectrum.
To use the camera analogy, the SPO-7 uses available "light" where the Whole Body Imagers use a lamp (emitter) to generate the "light".
The SPO-7 does not create an image of the subject like the WBI device does. The SPO-7 takes a "light" reading and from that light reading a computer generates a generic image with the possible trouble areas highlighted. This allows the operator to target the "alarm" area with other screening methods like a pat-down.
They key to the SPO-7 is the software, the rest of the system is very similar to the WBI. To take the SPO-7 from a passive system to an active system you basically need to control the "light". Or port the software over to the WBI. Either way, the technology is there so the TSA does not need to see anyone's privates.