Techlink :: Tech Practice :: Electronics

Discovering a new use for existing technology is as important as inventing a new one

The Voice100 in the lab

Dogs can sense odours at concentrations nearly 100 million times lower than humans can. Because of their keen sense of smell, dogs are trained for jobs such as tracking, drug and bomb detection and quarantine work. Sniffer dogs are trained to alert their handlers to the presence of these things by pawing, barking, or in the case of something dangerous, sitting quietly. The trouble is, dogs have to be trained and rewarded. They get tired and they get hungry. They can be temperamental and they get old. And, in time, they have to be replaced.

Christchurch company Syft Technologies has developed an electronic "Super nose", called the Voice100, that avoids these drawbacks and can instantly and accurately identify traces of chemicals in concentrations as low as a few parts per billion.

Last year Syft sold five of the devices to the Australian Customs Service (ACS). The instruments were installed in Australian ports to monitor fumigant levels in cargo containers. Shipping containers are regularly fumigated as part of biosecurity control, but even when a container has been ventilated, traces of fumigants may be present, endangering unprotected dock workers or the people inspecting the cargo. The potential export market for the Voice100 is very large indeed. Europe alone has more than 1,200 seaports, which collectively process more than 3.5 billion tonnes of cargo every year.

Fumigant detection is just one of a myriad of applications the Voice 100 is suited for. Other applications include border security, petroleum exploration, and medical research. Development of the device provides an interesting illustration of how research, engineering and business expertise can be used to move technology out of the laboratory and into the commercial world.

The Voice100 in the lab

Until recently, the technology underlying the device – Selected Ion Flow Tube-Mass Spectrometry (SIFT-MS) – was used by scientists to investigate the origins of the universe by studying the chemical reactions in interstellar gas clouds. But as these sciences moved on, priorities shifted and SIFT-MA technology became a curiosity, used mainly by researchers studying the mechanisms driving chemical reactions.

But in the mid 1990s, work begun in the preceding decade led to a kind of inversion of application of the SIFT-MS technology. Instead of concentrating on using known quantities of chemical ingredients to define the parameters of a chemical reaction, researchers found they could reverse the procedure and use databases of known parameters to calculate the quantities of product produced by a chemical reaction. In practical terms, this allowed diagnostic tests to be performed to detect and quantify trace quantities of gases in air samples.

Scientists and technicians at the University of Canterbury developed a machine that could test for minute quantities of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in real time. VOCs are carbon-based compounds responsible for most of the smells and tastes around us.

VOCs are produced by metabolic processes and by a wide range of domestic, commercial and industrial processes. Where these processes are present, so is a unique but often elusive VOC profile. Just as fingerprints can identify all humans, VOC profiles can identify living organisms, many diseases, chemical hazards and many industrial and chemical processes. If VOCs can be detected in real time, the processes producing them can also be accurately monitored in real time. And if the unique VOC profile produced by each source can be quickly interpreted, what is happening can be identified – as it happens.

But while the concept had obvious commercial potential, the instrument developed at the University was unsuited to the rigours of life in airports, ports, factories, hospitals and other real world situations. What was required was a small, robust instrument capable of detecting VOCs in real time. Furthermore, the device had to be simple to operate.

Working with Canterprise – the commercial arm of Canterbury University – the scientists formed a company, Syft Technologies, to do just this and commercialise the technology. To achieve this, Syft brought together research expertise, engineering and software skills, marketing know-how and proven business experience. After 18 months of R&D, the size of the instrument was reduced from an unwieldy 4 – tonne room-filling giant to the size of a washing machine.

Due to its combination of extreme sensitivity, real time analysis and quantification, the range of potential applications for the Voice 100 system is huge. Areas where SIFT-MS is currently being used, investigated or trialled, include:

Fast effective airport screening of passengers and luggage for explosives, drugs and other substances is vital. The Voice100 system can simultaneously detect many of these hazards, including liquid explosives, near instantly with an improved level of false positives compared to currently deployed technology.

A growing body of international research indicates that a number of medical conditions create a signature pattern of VOCs on a patient's breath. Rapid identification of these signatures, using the pattern matching software built into Syft instruments, promises non-invasive mass screening for diseases. Some of the most promising conditions for detection are certain forms of cancer, infections renal failure or function, and diabetes.

Linked to any valid oil, gas or coal reserve, natural fissures in the ground expose the sub-surface soil to light hydrocarbon traces (micro-seeps). Using soil samples taken below the biological activity layer (typically 1-2 metres) the Voice100 instrument can immediately detect trace amounts of hydrocarbons to lab-grade accuracy. Used as an adjunct to existing seismic surveys, the processing speed of the instrument allows a fast turnaround of processing samples, reducing survey costs and adding valuable data to geophysicist survey programmes.

Other applications include: real-time (production line) detection of contamination and spoiling; batch analysis for quality control purposes; real time monitoring of air pollution and tracing of possible pollution sources; the detection of fungi and insects in post-harvest crops; and the detection of building materials degradation due to microbial activity, such as occurs in leaking buildings.

The technology has won several awards and accolades for Syft including Most Innovative Product at the 2004 NZ Hi Tech awards and Regional Emerging Exporter of the Year 2005.