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Article: Detecting illegal drugs and pollutants.
- Article from:
- USA TODAY
- Article date:
- June 1, 1993
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Society for the Advancement of Education. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A sensor technology that holds great promise for use in the war against drugs, as well as in the detection of chemical weapons and industrial pollutants, has been developed by AIL System, Inc., Deer Park N. Y. Known as the Remote Monitoring Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS), the device employs advanced spectral processing techniques to detect and identify otherwise imperciptible trace of gases and vapors released into the atmosphere during drug and chemical production, chemical warfare, and industrial manufacturing. Electronics circuits are trained to "look" for molecules know be present in these effluents. (Each type of molecule had a unique "special fingerprint," ...