Overview

The Challenge

Asymmetric warfare is the strategy of choice for radical terrorist groups operating in the Middle East and throughout the rest of the world. This type of warfare is not fought on a traditional battlefield; it is waged in densely populated cities and towns. The enemy does not wear a uniform; he dresses like his neighbors and fellow citizens. He typically does not use a rifle or a hand-gun; his weapon of choice is a common nap-sack containing dynamite or C4 with a remote trigger, or these same explosives taped to the body of a suicide bomber. His target is not a military installation; it is a railway station at rush-hour, a crowded marketplace, a popular hotel, a high-profile office building, a commercial aircraft in flight, or perhaps a large congregation of people, such as the Super Bowl.

None of the presently deployed explosives detectors or trace chemical detection systems is capable of effectively defending against such attacks.  Current technologies either lack the required sensitivity to detect ultra-low levels of explosive material, or they lack the required selectivity to avoid frequent false alarms, or both.

The tremendous challenges posed by terrorists engaged in asymmetrical warfare are not confined to the Middle East. Well-coordinated attacks against London’s bus system, Japan’s commuter rail system, Madrid’s rail system, hotels in Indonesia, India and Pakistan, and several others have already been carried out. [get a better list: Mumbai?] The question is not “if” an attack in the U.S. will occur, but rather “when.” From the standpoint of effective explosives detection technology, the U.S. remains alarmingly vulnerable.

The currency of terrorists world-wide is the narcotics trade. In the Middle East it is opium; in Latin America it is cocaine; in Northern Ireland it is ecstasy, in East Asia it is hash. It is estimated that over 80% of the revenue that fuels terrorist activities comes from drugs. To detect and track terrorism is to detect and track the trail of drugs.

The Solution

SpectraFluidics, Inc., has developed a novel trace chemical detection technology that exceeds existing state-of-the-art performance metrics by orders of magnitude. SpectraFluidics’ technology provides gas-phase, molecular-specific detection of explosives, illicit drugs, and other contraband at parts-per-trillion (ppt) concentration levels. The technology does not require sample preparation, reagents, swabbing, or other handling techniques that can limit detection capabilities in the field.

SpectraFluidics’ founders initially formulated the concept of integrating free-surface microfluidic and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technologies two years ago under research funded and administered by the U.S. Army, the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB), and the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). Since that time, the fundamental physics and chemistry of the concept have been well-proven. The SpectraFluidics’ gas-phase trace chemical detection technology has demonstrated a combined level of sensitivity, specificity, and selectivity that far exceeds the capabilities of all known drug and/or explosive detection technologies.