Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has been chosen to test a bomb-detection system designed to find explosives hidden in cargo trucks, officials said.

The system would be controlled by a laptop computer, allowing security guards to inspect a truck before it enters a base without having to be near it, according to the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory, which developed the technology with Air Force funding.

The testing, to begin at Wright-Pat early next year, will help determine if the Idaho Explosives Detection System can be installed at other military bases or sites such as embassies and border crossings.

Explosives hidden in vehicles have killed more than 1,200 people worldwide in the past four years, according to an Energy Department report on the program.

A truck would be parked between generators that shoot neutrons into the vehicle, exciting the nuclei of materials inside the truck. Those materials will emit gamma rays that detectors will scan for explosive chemicals without harming the contents of the truck, the DOE said.