Rapid, portable and reliable cargo screener - New concept of vapour screening technology - Ion Mobility Chemical Fingerprint Detector

Información del proyecto

METEOR

Identificador del acuerdo de subvención: 101121149

DOI

10.3030/101121149

Fecha de la firma de la CE 8 Agosto 2023

Fecha de inicio 1 Octubre 2023

Fecha de finalización 31 Marzo 2027

Financiado con arreglo a

• Civil Security for Society

Coste total

€ 3 033 456,09

Aportación de la UE

€ 2 745 160,00

Coordinado por

VLAAMSE INSTELLING VOOR TECHNOLOGISCH ONDERZOEK N.V.
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - METEOR (Rapid, portable and reliable cargo screener - New concept of vapour screening technology - Ion Mobility Chemical Fingerprint Detector)

Período documentado: 2023-10-01 hasta 2025-03-31

Resumen del contexto y de los objetivos generales del proyecto

Safe and legal global transport is essential to human welfare, but it demands that customs authorities implement security regulations with a special focus on illicit goods. To enable enforcement of regulations tackling illicit goods trafficking, customs authorities have expressed their need for portable, affordable, non-intrusive, reliable screening technologies aiming to facilitate on-site and rapid inspections. METEOR will develop and validate a prototype of a portable, non-intrusive and versatile vapour screener that will enable customs administrations worldwide to rapidly and reliably inspect containers for the presence of illicit goods. The METEOR technology will provide a new concept of a cargo screening detector with a highly efficient air sampling technique and an ion mobility multidetector sensing technology.

Trabajo realizado desde el comienzo del proyecto hasta el final del período abarcado por el informe y los principales resultados hasta la fecha

At the start of the project, customs authorities have specified the requirements of the sampler and analyser to be developed in METEOR. These comprise the most relevant threats to be investigated and some functional requirements of the devices. The selected threats were characterised by means of lab experiments and some preliminary field tests were performed to assess the feasibility of air sampling in containers.
On order to optimize the sampling tool and strategy, the current sampling tools were evaluated and the development of a new sampling tool has started. Tailored coatings to sample the different threats have been developed and tested with some relevant volatile markers. To study the dispersion of the threats in containers, calculations and simulations were performed.
The approach followed for the development and validation of the new detection technology is incremental. A first version of a new chip was designed and is being manufactured. Furthermore, the validation of the different subsystems has taken place and the integration of all subsystems has started. A first version of the software is developed for the first functional version of the analyser.
Validation of the new sampler and analyser can only be done at a later stage, however, some preliminary actions were already undertaken. Sampling campaigns were organized in order to have a clear view on the levels of concentrations of the selected threats in blank containers. A test set-up for in-house validation was designed and tested.
A number of critical technology elements within the sampling and detection screening are new and offer opportunities to generate novel intellectual property. Potential sources of IP are tracked and a strategy for exploitation of the prototype METEOR system is being developed.

Avances que van más allá del estado de la técnica e impacto potencial esperado (incluida la repercusión socioeconómica y las implicaciones sociales más amplias del proyecto hasta la fecha)

Threat characterization experiments have led to the identification of some (semi-)volatile compounds that might serve as markers, additional to those known from the literature.
Development of the sampler as well as the detector surpass the state of the art. New coatings improving the threat targeting were developed. At detection level, the new multidetector chip reduces the noise significantly and also the analyser system operating at atmospheric pressure presents a novel alternative to standard GC-MS techniques.

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