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Rapiscan Systems and ����Vlog�ٷ� are advancing next-generation X-ray imaging and detection for security and inspection.

A strategic collaboration between Rapiscan Systems and the University unites Rapiscan’s industrial capability in advanced X-ray inspection with the Manchester’s world-leading academic expertise in detector physics, manufacturing processes, X-ray source development and imaging algorithms.

Spanning a range of engagement activities, the partnership translates cutting-edge research into deployable systems that improve detection capability, throughput and operational performance across security screening.

Challenge

Security screening and industrial inspection systems face growing pressure to deliver higher detection performance, faster throughput and better image quality, while maintaining reliability and cost-effectiveness. To meet evolving global security requirements, Rapiscan has developed a next-generation computed-tomography (CT) scanner built on a stationary-gantry, no-moving-parts architecture – replacing the conventional rotating gantry with an array of fixed X-ray sources fired in sequence.

This design promised greater speed and reliability, but the hardware could not be fully exploited: its unusual fixed multi-source geometry demanded fundamentally new image-reconstruction mathematics that did not yet exist. Rapiscan needed a research partner able to turn the prototype hardware into a deployable product.

Manchester's solution

Rapiscan partnered with mathematicians in the University’s Department of Mathematics – Professor William Lionheart with Dr Marta Betcke, Dr Nicola Wadeson and Dr William Thompson – who developed the novel theory and image-reconstruction algorithms tailored to the scanner’s fixed multi-source geometry.

Their research defined the firing sequence for the plurality of X-ray sources and reconstructed the final 3D image from the resulting data. This mathematics was the critical enabler that made the no-moving-parts design viable, turning prototype hardware into the commercially successful Real Time Tomography (RTT) product.

Innovation

The relationship has matured from this early collaboration into a structured, ongoing framework aligned with UK innovation mechanisms. It integrates Rapiscan scientists with University researchers and aligns R and D roadmaps, so that research is not only exploratory but directly targeted at business needs and system-level performance. Current and recent activity includes:

• Occupied-vehicle screening – an Innovate UK-funded project developing novel technology to screen occupied vehicles with X-rays, building on a proof-of-concept project.
• Future X-ray and radiation detector technology – joint PhDs and MSc projects investigating novel x-ray and radiation detection technology.
• X-ray sources – establishing a new collaboration to develop future x-ray generation sources.
• Person screening – investigating advancements in electromagnetic sensing for metal detection.

Impact

500+ RTT systems installed | 57 countries | 98% bags automatically cleared | +300% screening throughput |

• A world first – the RTT was the first stationary-gantry (no-moving-parts) CT explosives-detection system.
• Global deployment – more than 500 RTT systems installed across 150+ locations in 57 countries.
• Speed and accuracy – images 1,800+ bags per hour, returning an automated decision on each in around a second – clearing roughly 98% of bags automatically and flagging only ~2% for manual review, which lowers operator workload and fatigue.
• Efficiency – a 300% improvement in screening throughput and 35–50% lower maintenance costs versus previous generations.
• Economic value – over USD $215M in RTT110 sales for Rapiscan since 2015, sustaining UK R and D and manufacturing (~200 people) and now being leveraged into new areas such as biosecurity and agriculture.
• Strategic returns – a growing pipeline of jointly-generated IP, projects progressing along technology-readiness levels toward commercialisation, and transfer of expertise into the business – including people now in senior leadership roles.