An optimized NQR spectrometer for detection of prohibited substances

Monea, Cristian; Iana, Gabriel; Ioniță, Silviu; Ionescu, Laurenţiu Mihai; Zaharia, Sandel; Ilie, Stelian; Bizon, Nicu

doi:10.1016/j.measurement.2019.107158

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Another group of researchers proposed an NQR system designed to detect prohibited substances in the frequency range of MHz using low-power and frequency-swept excitation 18 . The team presented their system’s components and several technical solutions for noise reduction during data acquisition, such as using fiber-optic communication and a battery-powered low-noise amplifier (LNA).…”

Section: Literature Review and Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-invasive authentication of mail packages using nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy

Horace-Herron

Masna

Dehghanzadeh

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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The international postal network is one of the most widely used methods for correspondence throughout the world. Most postal traffic across the globe consists of legitimate interpersonal, business-consumer, and business-business communications. However, the global postal system is also utilized for criminal activity. In particular, it is often utilized to ship and distribute contraband, including illegal psychoactive drugs such as fentanyl and heroin, to consumers. Existing technological solutions are capable of identifying synthetic opioids and other illegal drugs within packages, but are accompanied by several disadvantages that make them unsuitable for large-scale authentication of international mail traffic. This paper presents a novel method for non-invasive authentication of mail packages that overcomes these challenges. The approach uses nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) spectroscopy to detect and quantify the presence of known active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) within the package. It has been experimentally demonstrated using a bench top prototype. Test results from a variety of package types demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed authentication approach.

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Section: Literature Review and Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-invasive authentication of mail packages using nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy

Horace-Herron

Masna

Dehghanzadeh

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Another group of researchers proposed an NQR system designed to detect prohibited substances in the frequency range of 0.4 − 6 MHz using low-power and frequency-swept excitation [17]. The team presented their system's components and several technical solutions for noise reduction during data acquisition, such as using fiber-optic communication and a battery-powered low-noise amplifier (LNA).…”

Section: Literature Review and Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-invasive Authentication of Mail Packages using Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Spectroscopy

Horace-Herron

Masna

Dehghanzadeh

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The international postal network is one of the most widely used methods for correspondence throughout the world. Most postal traffic across the globe consists of legitimate interpersonal, business-consumer, and business-business communications. However, the global postal system is also utilized for criminal activity. In particular, it is often utilized to ship and distribute contraband, including illegal psychoactive drugs such as fentanyl and heroin, to consumers. Existing technological solutions are capable of identifying synthetic opioids and other illegal drugs within packages, but are accompanied by several disadvantages that make them unsuitable for large-scale authentication of international mail traffic. This paper presents a novel method for non-invasive authentication of mail packages that overcomes these challenges. The approach uses nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) spectroscopy to detect and quantify the presence of known active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) within the package. It has been experimentally demonstrated using a benchtop prototype. Test results from a variety of package types demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed authentication approach.

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“…The experimental data is acquired using a custom designed NQR spectrometer [13]. The detection probe contains a planar coil on which the scanned item is placed and offers advantage of direct contact with the scanned object.…”

Section: Experimental Setup and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-criteria decision algorithm for NQR signal detection

Monea

Iana

Ioniță

et al. 2020

2020 International Conference on Applied Electronics (AE)

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Nuclear quadrupole resonance is a spectroscopy technique used for chemical analysis, temperature measurement and detection of prohibited substances. It offers advantages like highly specific and non-invasive detection, but has the disadvantages of low signal-to-noise ratio and temperature dependence of the response signal, which are generally compensated by special hardware and signal processing solutions. This paper proposes a data processing algorithm based on multiple criteria designed to ensure nuclear quadrupole resonance detection in specific scenarios. In contrast with current algorithms, this solution does not require statistical estimation of the response's parameters. It is evaluated using a real data set composed of 8000 acquisitions and is shown to reach a detection probability of 94% that outperforms existing solutions for a specific detection threshold.

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An optimized NQR spectrometer for detection of prohibited substances

Cited by 15 publications

References 27 publications

Non-invasive authentication of mail packages using nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy

Non-invasive authentication of mail packages using nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy

Non-invasive Authentication of Mail Packages using Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Spectroscopy

Multi-criteria decision algorithm for NQR signal detection

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