Scent Detection Technologies has developed the Mini-Nose portable
explosive sniffer under specifications set by Israel and the United
States.
Mini-Nose is based on a technology called High-Frequency Quartz
Crystal Microbalance. HF-QCM, which includes an array of sensors and
coating, was designed to trace levels of explosive chemicals at a
lower cost and greater accuracy than existing explosive trace
detection technologies.
"When you go through security checkpoints in some locations you see
equipment that may have performed well in the lab but once deployed
on the front lines loses much of its sensitivity and reliability,"
company vice president Doron Shalom said.
Shalom said Mini-Nose, which won awards in 2006 and 2007, could
detect IEDs, including suicide bomber belts. He said the company,
established in 2004, has adopted a concept by his father Lev Dayan
and former Israeli chief scientist, to identify substances by
algorithms.
"On the surface of each sensor is a chemical coating which is
sensitive to different families of molecules of both explosive and
non-explosive material," Shalom said. "When the sensors are exposed
to the material, there's a change in the resonating frequency which
is measured."
Executives said Mini-Nose was tested in the laboratories of the
state-owned Israel Military Industries. They said SDT was also
working with the U.S. government, including the Transportation
Security Administration, which has deployed Mini-Nose throughout the
United States and Europe.
"I am very familiar with current IMS technology and have witnessed
first hand the pains and discomfort of TSA screeners working with
this outdated ETD equipment," SDT operations manager in the United
States Tom Neugebauer, said. "SDT has virtually eliminated most if
not all the problems that front line security personnel face around
the globe."