Explosive and narcotics detectors alert the user to amounts of certain chemical substances, typically found on the personal belongings (e.g. on the outside of a bag or the inside of a vehicle) or person of someone who has handled such materials.
These detectors are an effective measure for intercepting people who may pose a threat to others or are involved in either the trafficking or use of illicit substances.
Explosive Trace Detectors
Explosives trace detectors (ETDs) use one of two technologies: mass spectrometry (MS) or ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). The former gives a lower rate of false positives and the use of a non-radioactive ionisation source keeps costs low, and removes the extra operational challenges that come with detectors that use such materials.
Handheld and portable explosive trace detectors are used extensively in law enforcement and emergency response and first response personnel such as HazMat and EOD teams. They also have military applications.
Larger desktop explosive detectors are often seen at security checkpoints, most notably in airports. They can also be operated out of mobile labs, reconnaissance vehicles, deployable lab containers, and other portable platforms.
Narcotics Trace Detectors
Narcotics trace detectors work in a similar way to explosive trace detectors, and hence devices that are configured to detect illicit substances are generally also able to detect the presence of explosive traces.
Some detectors are able to detect other hazardous substances including Chemical Warfare Agents. The most advanced devices allow custom threats to be added, and new configurations can be added to the library via firmware updates.
Narcotics trace detectors are often deployed at the entrance to controlled areas such as prisons or entertainment venues.
Raman Spectrometers
Raman spectrometers utilize a common technique to identify and measure chemicals: explosives, narcotics, hazardous substances and chemical warfare agents can all be identified. Using Raman spectroscopy, the detectors provide a structural fingerprint of a substance which is used for identification.
Raman spectrometers generally rely on inelastic scattering from a laser, when used on the matter, the laser interacts with the molecules resulting in an up or down shift in the energy photons. This shift is measured and using this information the substance can be identified.
Browse Narcotics & Explosives Threat Detection
We stock narcotic and explosive threat detectors from the leading manufactures, FLIR and Serstech. Get in contact with us for a free demonstration with any of our products, for further information, or to get a quote.
You can also download the technical specification documents for each narcotic and explosive threat detectors in our range.
