Security Roundup

Air Safety Week,  Oct 1, 2007  

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Aviation security experts say that the real breakthrough being sought is in the area of explosives detection that is portable and highly reliable. Israel's Scent Detection Technologies (SDT) is offering the "mini-nose" at $25K per unit. Based on a technology called High-Frequency Quartz Crystal Microbalance (HF- QCM), the light-weight device has consistently proven its ability to detect the presence of constituent elements of explosive materials by collecting and analyzing the most minute trace molecular evidence from the explosive.

It's effective against peroxide and nitrate based explosives such as TATP (triacetone triperoxide) and urea nitrate - the latter being a favorite of suicide bombers. The mini-nose compares very favorably against trace detectors (puffers) and backscatter x-ray machine portals.