Syft Technologies' Voice100 Detects 'Mother of Satan'

New Zealand company Syft Technologies is marketing an instrument with the unique ability to detect the volatile gases generated by TATP.

The explosive, known as the ‘Mother of Satan’, was used in the shoe bomb Richard Reid tried to detonate on an American Airlines flight in December 2001 and in the July 7 London bombings that killed 54 people last year.

The explosive triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, has long presented a challenge to authorities. It is relatively easy to make from readily available ingredients. It is highly unstable—a bump or a spark can set it off. Dogs can’t identify it, and conventional nitrogen-based detecting devices can’t pick it up, causing it to be designated a ‘transparent’ explosive. Until now, the only way to determine its presence required a physical interaction with it.

Enter the Voice100 from Syft Technologies.

Originally developed at the University of Canterbury to determine the chemical composition of interstellar gas clouds, the Voice100 has metamorphosed into a commercial instrument the size of a photocopier that can instantaneously detect everything from asthma to fumigants in cargo containers to… TATP.

The Voice100 uses a technology called Selective Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry, a.k.a. SIFT-MS, to alert its operator to the presence of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). VOCs are responsible for the odours a trained sniffer dog can pick up, but the Voice100 has the ability to quantify the chemicals present in the sample, eliminating the possibility of false positives from non-offensive substances with a similar chemical base.

Because it works by detecting volatiles, the Voice100 doesn’t have to rely on a physical wipe picking up traces of the explosive. Instead, the instrument sucks in a sample of air via a wand inserted into a piece of luggage, and instantaneously delivers an accurate reading down to single-digit parts per billion.

“This technology can be integrated into a real-world security situation right now,” says Geoff Peck, CEO of Syft Technologies. “Airports can have the ability to detect an explosive known to be a weapon of choice for terrorists.”

Last year, scientists at Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology announced the Peroxide Explosive Tester (PET), a pen-shaped device which releases chemical solutions that change colour when they interact with TATP. The problem with the PET is that the person doing the screening has to find the explosive first, resulting in a large gap in practical security.

Mass spectrometry isn’t a new science. Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) is used worldwide for the analysis of chemical compounds. GC-MS, however, can’t be used for live TATP testing: it takes 15-20 minutes to obtain results, far too long to be feasible for an airport environment, and it requires the sample to be prepared using heat, which would cause the thermally unstable TATP to detonate.

In contrast, the Voice100 provides lab-grade data in real time with no preparation. Transportation Safety workers can be easily trained on the push-button use of the instrument.

Voice100s are already deployed at five ports in Australia, where they are used to monitor fumigants in cargo containers, acting as an important biosecurity device and improving safety for dock workers.