Advanced Truck X-Ray Scanner Are Becoming Key Players in Addressing Fentanyl Crises at US Borders
“Record Fentanyl Seizures” and “Hidden Compartment Reveals Deadly Narcotics” are headlines that all too frequently make national news. Opioids continue to wreak havoc across America, as the opioid crisis, driven primarily by illicitly manufactured fentanyl, continues to take an enormous toll. Imagine this: a commercial truck approaches a U.S. port of entry with its manifest declaring legal goods, but hidden among its cargo lies a shipment of fentanyl with enough potency to kill thousands. Synthetic opioids that are 50x stronger than heroin and 100x stronger than morphine are increasingly being brought in illegally via sophisticated means. This places an enormous strain on traditional inspection methods and resources. At LINEV Systems®, we recognize this problem isn’t limited to law enforcement; it’s a public health emergency requiring technological solutions. That’s why our truck X-ray scanner systems stand as one of the tools of border security agencies across America in combating illegal drug trafficking.
Fentanyl’s toxic nature lies in its extreme potency. Even small doses, barely perceivable by the naked eye, may prove lethal. Enabling drug traffickers and smugglers to transport large volumes in discrete packages easily concealed from public view. They utilize clever methods of concealment that include hiding drugs behind false walls of trailers or tires, mixing narcotics into legitimate cargo loads, dissolving them in liquids, or pressing out counterfeit pills designed to look like prescription medication. These methods bypass cursory visual inspections or basic X-ray screenings, due to the sheer volume of commercial traffic crossing U.S. borders daily, over millions annually. A manual inspection of each vehicle is an impossible feat. Innovative truck X-ray scanner technology becomes important here, since traditional systems may lack the penetration power or sophistication to detect subtle anomalies indicative of hidden contraband. Fighting Fentanyl requires new screening tools.
At LINEV Systems®, our focus has always been on designing and deploying next-generation solutions. We believe that providing border protection staff with superior imaging capabilities will enhance their ability to detect and intercept any fentanyl shipments before they enter our communities. Our approach focuses on several essential technological pillars for effective contraband detection. First and foremost is high penetration power, which allows us to see through dense cargo or even structures of vehicles themselves. Advanced material discrimination allows operators to quickly distinguish between organic (such as drugs ) and inorganic materials ( such as metals or benign cargo ). They are color-coded for quicker recognition on screen. Dual or multi-view imaging offers multiple perspectives of an object being scanned, virtually eliminating blind spots that smugglers use to sneak through customs checks. Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms can rapidly analyze complex X-ray images in real time to flag suspicious areas with better speed and precision than humans can, especially at times when throughput demands exceed human capacity alone.
Two of our systems are making tangible differences in combating fentanyl smuggling: MEAP and DTP 7500/320DV.
MEAP (Multi-Energicity X-RAY ARRAY PORTAL)
MEAP represents an innovative step forward for truck X-ray scanner technology. Engineered specifically to handle high-throughput environments like border crossings and ports where speed and accuracy are required. MEAP utilizes Multi-Energy Array technology, which uses both low and high energy sources working simultaneously to provide unparalleled image clarity with deep penetration, allowing it to detect anomalies even within densely packed containers.
MEAP offers true Dual-View imaging capabilities, providing multiple top-down and side-view projections in one pass. This multi-perspective capability is critical, since smugglers try to hide contraband in areas that remain obscure from one perspective alone. Dual-View combined with MEA provides a complete picture and greatly increases the probability of detection. MEAP provides enhanced spatial resolution (2x greater imaging detail through multi-angle data fusion) and improved material discrimination (2x more accurate detection of organic, inorganic, and metallic threats).
MEAP stands out with its real-time AI analysis engine. As soon as a truck X-ray scanner captures images, AI algorithms instantly analyze them using classification systems and risk scoring protocols to classify materials while alerting operators about any possible threats that have been identified. AI-powered automation achieves twice as fast processing times, eliminating delays and alleviating cognitive strain on human operators who have endured long hours looking over complex images. AI can learn and adapt quickly, becoming even better at detecting subtle signatures of hidden drugs. MEAP’s modular design makes it highly adaptable, from compact single-view setups to full dual-view multi-energy portals. This ensures it remains an agile response when security needs change – ideal for agencies dealing with drug traffickers that employ dynamic strategies.
DTP 7500/320DV
The DTP 7500/320DV is another system in our cargo and vehicle inspection portfolio, boasting unmatched versatility and power. As a multi-energy, dual-view solution, it is designed to inspect various vehicles ranging from passenger cars, vans, and buses to fully loaded trucks. This multi-energy dual-view solution ensures safe inspection at land border crossings where multiple vehicles are prevalent, often making separate scanners impractical or inefficient.
The DTP 7500/320DV’s strength lies in its proprietary multiple projection and energy technology, which utilizes various energy levels safely depending on the vehicle being scanned. For instance, when scanning passenger vehicles such as vans or buses using less dense structures (i.e. 320kV), providing excellent detail while remaining below safety thresholds, assuring driver safety (with maximum dose levels at or below 0.10mSv/scan for the driver). With higher density vehicles like trucks, up to 320mm steel equivalent cargo density, using much higher energies, such as 7.5 MeV, to see through the steel cargo density.
The system’s ability to simultaneously apply 320kV and 7.5MeV energies or select the optimal one has significantly raised inspection standards, effectively opening up both low-density contraband and high-density contraband to inspection. Therefore, whether fentanyl is hidden within passenger car paneling or containers on large trucks, the DTP 7500/320DV is equipped to detect it. The dual-view technology, providing horizontal and downward projections, ensures great coverage. With an hourly throughput capacity of up to 150 vehicles in drive-through mode, this truck X-ray scanner helps ensure legitimate commerce while significantly strengthening security. Additional features like Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and integrated radiation portal monitors maximize its utilization at busy checkpoints.
Advanced truck X-ray scanner systems such as MEAP and the DTP 7500/320DV do more than provide theoretical benefits. Their deployment makes a tangible and measurable contribution to combating fentanyl. Agencies using these technologies report increased seizure rates. Their detailed images, coupled with AI assistance, allow officers to more quickly pinpoint suspicious items, leading to more interceptions that prevent deadly drugs from making their way onto our streets.
Beyond seizures, border security systems serve as a powerful deterrent. Smuggling organizations recognize that border technology continues to advance; knowing that their concealment methods might become detectable can deter their operations and force them to reconsider high-risk routes for transporting contraband goods.
Furthermore, these technologies enhance officer safety. Even a small accidental exposure could prove fatal to inspecting officers. By offering non-intrusive inspection capabilities with X-ray scanners, these technologies reduce officer risk significantly by eliminating manual cargo handling activities. Significantly mitigating this risk and speedily clearing legitimate cargo to focus on high-risk shipments.
A Collaborative Effort Against Drug Smuggling
At LINEV Systems®, we recognize that the complexity of the opioid epidemic requires more than technology alone to tackle. Technology should only serve as one component in an overall plan to mitigate opioid smuggling. Effective border security requires an integrated strategy incorporating effective intelligence gathering and sharing among local, state, federal and international agencies. Furthermore, effective border protection requires dedicated personnel who can interpret our systems’ data to make informed decisions based on that analysis. As partners of these agencies, we provide not only equipment but also training, ongoing support, and commitments to innovation. Operator feedback on the ground has proven instrumental to our innovation efforts as it drives further refinements and new developments of technology.
Drug trafficking is an ongoing battle, requiring constant progress from security measures to remain one step ahead of criminal organizations. As security measures advance, criminal organizations quickly adapt with new concealment methods. Our focus remains on research and development. Exploring ways to enhance truck X-ray scanner technology through more complex AI algorithms capable of making finer distinctions, new sensor technologies or enhanced data fusion techniques to gain a clearer picture. Our goal is to ensure those on the frontline are equipped with the best X-ray systems.
Fentanyl’s toxic nature lies in its extreme potency. Even small doses, barely perceivable by the naked eye, may prove lethal. Enabling drug traffickers and smugglers to transport large volumes in discrete packages easily concealed from public view. They utilize clever methods of concealment that include hiding drugs behind false walls of trailers or tires, mixing narcotics into legitimate cargo loads, dissolving them in liquids, or pressing out counterfeit pills designed to look like prescription medication. These methods bypass cursory visual inspections or basic X-ray screenings, due to the sheer volume of commercial traffic crossing U.S. borders daily, over millions annually. A manual inspection of each vehicle is an impossible feat. Innovative truck X-ray scanner technology becomes important here, since traditional systems may lack the penetration power or sophistication to detect subtle anomalies indicative of hidden contraband. Fighting Fentanyl requires new screening tools.
At LINEV Systems®, our focus has always been on designing and deploying next-generation solutions. We believe that providing border protection staff with superior imaging capabilities will enhance their ability to detect and intercept any fentanyl shipments before they enter our communities. Our approach focuses on several essential technological pillars for effective contraband detection. First and foremost is high penetration power, which allows us to see through dense cargo or even structures of vehicles themselves. Advanced material discrimination allows operators to quickly distinguish between organic (such as drugs ) and inorganic materials ( such as metals or benign cargo ). They are color-coded for quicker recognition on screen. Dual or multi-view imaging offers multiple perspectives of an object being scanned, virtually eliminating blind spots that smugglers use to sneak through customs checks. Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms can rapidly analyze complex X-ray images in real time to flag suspicious areas with better speed and precision than humans can, especially at times when throughput demands exceed human capacity alone.
Two of our systems are making tangible differences in combating fentanyl smuggling: MEAP and DTP 7500/320DV.
MEAP (Multi-Energicity X-RAY ARRAY PORTAL)
MEAP represents an innovative step forward for truck X-ray scanner technology. Engineered specifically to handle high-throughput environments like border crossings and ports where speed and accuracy are required. MEAP utilizes Multi-Energy Array technology, which uses both low and high energy sources working simultaneously to provide unparalleled image clarity with deep penetration, allowing it to detect anomalies even within densely packed containers.
MEAP offers true Dual-View imaging capabilities, providing multiple top-down and side-view projections in one pass. This multi-perspective capability is critical, since smugglers try to hide contraband in areas that remain obscure from one perspective alone. Dual-View combined with MEA provides a complete picture and greatly increases the probability of detection. MEAP provides enhanced spatial resolution (2x greater imaging detail through multi-angle data fusion) and improved material discrimination (2x more accurate detection of organic, inorganic, and metallic threats).
MEAP stands out with its real-time AI analysis engine. As soon as a truck X-ray scanner captures images, AI algorithms instantly analyze them using classification systems and risk scoring protocols to classify materials while alerting operators about any possible threats that have been identified. AI-powered automation achieves twice as fast processing times, eliminating delays and alleviating cognitive strain on human operators who have endured long hours looking over complex images. AI can learn and adapt quickly, becoming even better at detecting subtle signatures of hidden drugs. MEAP’s modular design makes it highly adaptable, from compact single-view setups to full dual-view multi-energy portals. This ensures it remains an agile response when security needs change – ideal for agencies dealing with drug traffickers that employ dynamic strategies.
DTP 7500/320DV
The DTP 7500/320DV is another system in our cargo and vehicle inspection portfolio, boasting unmatched versatility and power. As a multi-energy, dual-view solution, it is designed to inspect various vehicles ranging from passenger cars, vans, and buses to fully loaded trucks. This multi-energy dual-view solution ensures safe inspection at land border crossings where multiple vehicles are prevalent, often making separate scanners impractical or inefficient.
The DTP 7500/320DV’s strength lies in its proprietary multiple projection and energy technology, which utilizes various energy levels safely depending on the vehicle being scanned. For instance, when scanning passenger vehicles such as vans or buses using less dense structures (i.e. 320kV), providing excellent detail while remaining below safety thresholds, assuring driver safety (with maximum dose levels at or below 0.10mSv/scan for the driver). With higher density vehicles like trucks, up to 320mm steel equivalent cargo density, using much higher energies, such as 7.5 MeV, to see through the steel cargo density.
The system’s ability to simultaneously apply 320kV and 7.5MeV energies or select the optimal one has significantly raised inspection standards, effectively opening up both low-density contraband and high-density contraband to inspection. Therefore, whether fentanyl is hidden within passenger car paneling or containers on large trucks, the DTP 7500/320DV is equipped to detect it. The dual-view technology, providing horizontal and downward projections, ensures great coverage. With an hourly throughput capacity of up to 150 vehicles in drive-through mode, this truck X-ray scanner helps ensure legitimate commerce while significantly strengthening security. Additional features like Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and integrated radiation portal monitors maximize its utilization at busy checkpoints.
Advanced truck X-ray scanner systems such as MEAP and the DTP 7500/320DV do more than provide theoretical benefits. Their deployment makes a tangible and measurable contribution to combating fentanyl. Agencies using these technologies report increased seizure rates. Their detailed images, coupled with AI assistance, allow officers to more quickly pinpoint suspicious items, leading to more interceptions that prevent deadly drugs from making their way onto our streets.
Beyond seizures, border security systems serve as a powerful deterrent. Smuggling organizations recognize that border technology continues to advance; knowing that their concealment methods might become detectable can deter their operations and force them to reconsider high-risk routes for transporting contraband goods.
Furthermore, these technologies enhance officer safety. Even a small accidental exposure could prove fatal to inspecting officers. By offering non-intrusive inspection capabilities with X-ray scanners, these technologies reduce officer risk significantly by eliminating manual cargo handling activities. Significantly mitigating this risk and speedily clearing legitimate cargo to focus on high-risk shipments.
A Collaborative Effort Against Drug Smuggling
At LINEV Systems®, we recognize that the complexity of the opioid epidemic requires more than technology alone to tackle. Technology should only serve as one component in an overall plan to mitigate opioid smuggling. Effective border security requires an integrated strategy incorporating effective intelligence gathering and sharing among local, state, federal and international agencies. Furthermore, effective border protection requires dedicated personnel who can interpret our systems’ data to make informed decisions based on that analysis. As partners of these agencies, we provide not only equipment but also training, ongoing support, and commitments to innovation. Operator feedback on the ground has proven instrumental to our innovation efforts as it drives further refinements and new developments of technology.
Drug trafficking is an ongoing battle, requiring constant progress from security measures to remain one step ahead of criminal organizations. As security measures advance, criminal organizations quickly adapt with new concealment methods. Our focus remains on research and development. Exploring ways to enhance truck X-ray scanner technology through more complex AI algorithms capable of making finer distinctions, new sensor technologies or enhanced data fusion techniques to gain a clearer picture. Our goal is to ensure those on the frontline are equipped with the best X-ray systems.