Texas A&M University - Meet the Teams

TSA Consolidation of Configurations Team

This student team is assessing a pervasive hurdle in the TSA's Computed Tomography (CT) systems: keeping scanning systems up to date to detect new and emerging threats. At a given airport, CT scanners from at least 4 unique vendors are in use. So how do you standardize a process to update software across different pieces of equipment, some of which may not even be using the same programming language? The Consolidation of Configurations team is working diligently on a solution.

The team is taking a deep dive into open architecture - a software design system meant to make collaboration easier between multiple stakeholders. The team has conducted 18 interviews with both TSA employees and CT vendors, and is even looking to the international scene for ideas on how to make open architecture work for TSA. This problem is a top priority for TSA, and was mentioned on page 11 of the Innovation Doctrine.

TSA Beating Bias in Artificial Intelligence Team

The Beating Bias in Artificial Intelligence team is focused on supporting the  TSA traveler engagement branch to improve the AIT scanner algorithm to prevent unintentional discrimination for travelers. Currently, those with non-caucasian hair styles tend to get flagged and patted down more often, leading to the unintended consequence of minorities  feeling discriminated against. Many passengers with dense or voluminous hair are being stopped for pat-downs because their hair is identified as an anomaly, rather than a part of their body.

The student team has conducted 25 interviews so far and believe the key to preventing this discrimination is to update the flagging algorithm. "Machine learning cannot be biased, but the data you feed it can make it so," said one student during their presentation. The team is working on gathering enough data to test a new algorithm that will account for all types of hair and reduce unnecessary flagging and pat-downs.

TSA More Mobility Team

The More Mobility team is examining how passengers who use wheelchairs move through airport security checkpoints. The process, as you may guess, is oftentimes slow, uncomfortable, and frustrating for all parties. In many cases, the students found, Transportation Security Officers (TSO) have no other option than to perform pat-downs for passengers who cannot stand up to move through the scanners. The students have conducted 26 interviews and visited one airport to learn more about the problem, with two more trips planned before the end of the semester.

Their proposed solution, in its current form, is a new polypropylene wheelchair with built-in millimeter-wave scanning technology combined with a new scanner that could be used for both able-bodied and wheelchair-supported passengers. The goal of this high-tech device is to reduce the screening time for wheelchair users from 10 minutes down to 2-4 minutes, reducing slow-downs, discomfort, and embarrassment for the passenger.