Scent Detection Technologies, based in Herzliya, Israel has developed
the Mini-Nose portable explosive sniffer under specifications set by Israel
and
the United States.
Mini-Nose was 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 told the Israel21c news website.
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 and then-Israeli
chief scientist, Lev Dayan, 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hand the pains and discomfort of TSA screeners working with this outdated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."
