Passport Systems

Passport Systems, Inc. operates in the aerospace and defense sector, focusing on developing and commercializing advanced screening technologies to enhance security at ports and borders. The company was founded in December 2002 by a group of MIT researchers, including physics professor Dr. William Bertozzi and entrepreneur Dr. Gordon Baty, in response to the heightened security needs following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Dr. Bertozzi's work on Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence (NRF) technology, originally conceived after the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and patented by MIT, forms the scientific foundation of the company. Dr. Robert Ledoux, who previously served as an Associate Professor of Physics at MIT, was the CEO from 2002 to 2019 and was instrumental in advancing the technology and securing government contracts.

The company's business model relies on a combination of government contracts, particularly from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and private capital to fund research, development, and commercialization. Its primary clients are government agencies and port authorities responsible for national security and customs. Passport Systems generates revenue through the sale of its sophisticated scanning equipment. A notable milestone was a 2017 Letter of Intent signed with a Vietnamese company for the sale of 18 SmartScan 3D™ scanners to Vietnam's customs department, aimed at improving security and the flow of commerce. Despite securing significant funding and developing functional prototypes, the company reportedly ceased operations in 2020 after nearly two decades.

Passport Systems developed two main product lines. The first, SmartScan 3D™, is an automated cargo inspection system that uses NRF and other technologies to non-intrusively analyze the material composition of contents within a container. This system can identify specific materials, such as explosives, nuclear materials, and other contraband, and provide their 3-dimensional location without opening the container. The second product, SmartShield™, is a networked radiation detection system. It consists of small, handheld detectors, about the size of a deck of cards, that can be worn by personnel to create a network that detects, locates, and identifies sources of radiation in real-time, making it suitable for security at large public events.

Keywords: cargo screening, nuclear resonance fluorescence, NRF technology, homeland security, radiation detection, contraband detection, port security, SmartScan 3D, SmartShield, non-intrusive inspection, threat detection, customs security, cargo inspection system, MIT spinout, radiological threat detection, automated screening, defense technology, security scanners, border protection, explosives detection