Challenges in Manual Under Vehicle Inspection & How UVIS Solves Them

The challenges associated with performing a manual inspection of undercarriages, combined with the inability of manual inspections to provide consistent results across varying human skill levels, makes it unfeasible to use humans for this type of inspection in the future. 

The limitations of manual inspections have resulted in increased human error and inconsistent threat detection, as guards will often miss items because of fatigue, distractions, and varying skill levels; these challenges have all resulted in increased threats to public safety and the loss of valuable time and money due to vehicle queue and congestion at the point of entry.

To overcome these types of problems associated with manual inspections, the only solution is to implement an Under Vehicle Inspection System (UVIS) with a proper technological infrastructure to provide the capability for the automated inspection of the undercarriage of vehicles. 

Advantages of UVIS Over Manual Vehicle Inspections

These are the major advantages to using UVIS technology rather than relying on manual inspections. 

1. Machine Operated: The first advantage is that UVIS eliminates the reliance on humans. When relying on human inspectors to perform inspections, there are many variables that affect how effective an inspection will be. Human inspectors may be tired, distracted, or working with people with different skill levels, which makes their inspections less effective, so relying on a technology-based solution eliminates these issues.

2. Quick Inspection: A second advantage of using an automated undercarriage inspection solution is the speed of inspection. Manually inspecting the undercarriage of a vehicle is often time-consuming and much slower than using UVIS, as the average time for a manually performed inspection is more than double the average time required to complete a UVIS inspection. It is simply a matter of providing an automated, objective, and efficient means of inspecting the undercarriage of vehicles to ensure they are not carrying hazardous items or other threats to public safety.

3. Limited visibility: poor images produced by manual tools (mirror/flashlight) create limited visibility for the security personnel performing inspections in low-light, inclement weather or with vehicles that contain complex body styles. Therefore, many small or well-concealed items will go undetected by manual inspecting techniques.

4. Physical strain and safety hazards: The repetitive activity of bending, kneeling, or lying on the ground exposes security personnel to excessive physical strain and long-term health problems. Additionally, there are potential hazards associated with being in contact with moving vehicles or dangerous substances.

5. Restriction of Manual Activities: manual activities do not produce digital documentation in most cases. There is no evidence (picture or time stamp) of an inspection that can be used for further auditing or review for the purpose of compliance.

6. Recognizing Threats: Difficulty recognizing new or “emerging” threats. Manually inspecting relies upon what an inspector is trained to look for and as it relates to Concealment techniques, inspectors will not necessarily know to recognize a threat pattern that is different from what they have been trained to recognize.

The use of Under Vehicle Inspection Systems (UVIS) can address the following challenges

– The inability to detect sophisticated or new threats

– Decreased preparedness against increasingly sophisticated security threats 

1. Consistency & Automation

Every vehicle is scanned by fixed high-resolution cameras with intelligent software so that there is no variance between human error due to inconsistent inspection methodologies, thus ensuring uniform inspection standards across shifts and locations.

Benefits: 

– Reduction in human error

– Consistent inspection quality 

2. Speed of Vehicle Inspection Cycle Time

Vehicles are scanned while the vehicles drive over the inspection lane (time varies from seconds). The vehicles do not have to stop at all nor do they take up much space.

Benefits:

– Traffic flows smoothly

– Increased checkpoint efficiency

– Improved visitor/staff experiences

3. Increased Image Clarity & Detail

UVIS provides high clarity and detailed images of the entire undercarriage of a vehicle, including those areas that are not easy to see. With state-of-the-art lighting and advanced image enhancement, the UVIS performs reliably in low-light and/or inclement conditions.

Benefits:

– 100% image coverage of the undercarriage

– Better detection of concealed objects

4. Decreased Risk of Injury to Security Personnel

Because UVIS is fully automated, there is no longer any need for staff members to crawl under the vehicles and/or work in a crouched position. This has greatly increased safety and productivity for the security staff member.

Benefits:

– Safer working environment

– Increased productivity & morale

5. Audit-Ready and Centralized Data with Digital Recordkeeping

The UVIS is a centralized repository for all inspection images, timestamps, and alerts. The UVIS provides a single point of access for all of this data, and it can be easily accessed during audits and compliance checks as well as for forensic research.

Advantages of utilizing the UVIS include:

– Strong audit trails

– Increased accountability and transparency

6. AI Integration into Threat Detection

By integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Anomaly Detection algorithms into modern UVIS platforms, we can designate alerts related to foreign objects, structural changes, or other malicious modifications on the UGV. This helps to improve our ability to identify both known and unknown threats.

Advantages of AI Integration into Threat Detection include:

– Proactive threat detection

– Improved preparedness against evolving threat environments

Manual Vs. UVIS Inspection

Although there may be a limited need for Manual Under Car Inspection in lower risk facilities, it is not acceptable in today’s fast-paced world of high volume, high quality, many security facilities require Quick, Accurate and Adaptive Under Car Inspections (UCIs). Therefore, in order to effectively conduct UCIs on the totality of a facility’s UGVs, UGV owners/operators must transition to using UVIS.

Conclusion

Manual Under-Cars Inspections present many obstacles: Human error, inefficiencies, safety concerns, and a lack of formal written records, where the UVIS provides quick UCIs, the greatest visibility into a facility’s UGV Security, the highest level of Safety, and intelligent monitoring of threat detection.

As the sophistication of security threats increases, and the need for facility operations becomes greater, the UVIS no longer constitutes a luxury item, but rather is a critical component of Perimeter Security Operations Strategy in the Modern Age.