Solution for tracing explosives in compact electronic items

The liquid explosive scare in London has prompted many companies active in the chemical detection field to highlight the capabilities of their technologies in detecting binary chemicals. Yesterday we reported about Boca Raton, Florida-based Golan Group, whose device was tested by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in spring 2004 and found found to have superior chemical detection capabilities to digital X-ray systems (TSA, though, has yet to order some of Golan’s systems for U.S. airports).

More traditional security concerns, however, have not diminished, and companies continue to come forward with innovative solutions and approaches to these concerns. New York-based TraceGuard Technologies (OTC BB: TCGD), for example, said that it was planning to launch CompactSafe, a unique system for inspecting compact electronic items at passenger checkpoints at airports and other transportation hubs. CompactSafe is based on TraceGuard’s proprietary automated trace explosive extraction method which extracts traces of explosives and other hazardous materials from both the internal contents and external surfaces of inspected items.

CompactSafe, which is currently under development, is designed specifically to extract explosives from items such as laptops, medical devices, and cameras. These items are characterized by small size and sophisticated internal components, so they pose a challenge for current screening technologies and methods. The company says that CompactSafe performs a non-intrusive, non-destructive extraction of the air molecules surrounding the inspected item. The company says that currently there is no system deployed for automated trace extraction for the items that CompactSafe is designed to inspect. The system is intended to be used as an addition to existing X-ray and detection equipment already deployed at airports, and is expected to begin field evaluations by the end of 2006.

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