Detection of Drugs/Narcotics and Processing Components Using

Seacoast Science proposes to fabricate a detector that meets all the requirements to serve as a system for sniffing out illicit drug processing laboratories. The system includes a chemical sensor array selective and sensitive to the volatile chemicals commonly used in drug synthesis, a radio for wireless communication and a small, rugged, lightweight, low-power system designed for long-term battery operation. Our MEMS chemicapacitor technology utilizes an array of surface micromachined capacitors, coated with chemoselective polymer coatings optimized for volatile chemicals such as ketones, alcohols and hydrocarbons. These and similar chemicals are commonly used in drug processing. Its exceptionally low power consumption, inexpensive production cost and robustness allow our detector to operate under battery power for up to 6 months. In Phase I we will test our sensors by exposing them to common drug processing chemicals at appropriate concentrations under a range of environmental conditions. This 6 month Phase will result in a demonstration of a detector package consisting of three sensor units that will be able to transmit concentration levels of chemicals wirelessly. Operationally these detector systems will be small enough to be used clandestinely at suspected lab locations and cheap enough for widespread distribution.