Explosives trace-detection portal machine

An explosives trace-detection portal machine, also known as a trace portal machine and commonly known as a puffer machine, is a security device that seeks to detect explosives and illegal drugs at airports and other sensitive facilities as a part of airport security screening. The machines are intended as a secondary screening device, used as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, traditional X-ray machines.

The term "trace-detection" refers to the machine's ability to detect extremely small "traces" of these compounds. The exact sensitivities of these machines is not available information, but a mass spectrometer detects compounds on a molecular level and would only be limited by the efficiency of the collection from the air puffed to obtain a sample for analysis. The machines also have a low false alarm rate that can be less than 1%.

Entry Scan, developed by General Electric, and Ionscan Sentinel II, developed by Smiths Detection, use ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) technology and can detect explosives such as RDX, PETN, TNT, and Nitroglycerin. It can also detect illegal, as well as legal, controlled substances such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, PCP, methamphetamine, and MDMA.

The Guardian, developed by Syagen Technology with preconcentration technology licensed from Sandia National Laboratories, is physically similar but internally different. The Guardian uses mass spectrometry (MS) technology, which can detect 16 explosive compounds with 10-100x more sensitivity than IMS, resolve multiple compounds at the same time, and perform shoe bomb detection without removing shoes. The collection technology licensed from Sandia Laboratories is also significantly different from those used in Entry Scan and the Sentinel II. Syagen offers a narcotics screening portal as a separate product.

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