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Wednesday April 7, 12:01 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Chemical Detection Technology, Inc.
ChemTech Begins Building Prototype of Its Portable X-ray Landmine Detector
AUSTIN, Texas, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Chemical Detection Technology, Inc. (ChemTech) has moved its fully portable X-ray-based landmine detector, the ELF, out of the laboratory and into prototype production, according to Rodney Boone, CEO of ChemTech and its parent, Loch Harris, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: LOCH - news). Boone said plans call for initial bench tests to begin in six months and field tests in about nine months.
Full funding of the prototype phase that was announced last week enables the company to continue its policy of operating without long-term debt, said Boone.
ELF is an acronym for Eliminate Landmines Forever, according to Boone, indicating both its humanitarian core mission and its initial target market -- the destruction of abandoned landmines in former war zones. But he acknowledged that future versions will have significant military applications.
Boone made his comments from the SPIE AeroSense Symposium (http://www.spie.org/info/or/) now underway at the Marriott Orlando World Center in Orlando, Florida. He is attending the conference with noted physicist Dr. Henry Blair, who has spent five years developing the ELF technology. ''And we are frankly looking for possible non-financial partners that have extensive experience in field implementation and deployment as well as in related military systems.''
Future product applications abound in the fields of security, flow control, and monitoring the manufacturing of integrated circuit wafers,'' he said.
''The ELF's prototype phase culminates five years of R&D in sensing technology and signal safety, management, generation, and reception,'' said Dr. Blair, ''combined with recent developments in discrimination software techniques.''
ELF is based on well-understood LIDAR techniques, according to Dr. Blair, using X-ray near 1.0-Angstrom wavelength as the excitation energy. ''The source need not be particularly special, merely portable,'' he said. ''Both the transmission and receiving signals are concentrated, using proprietary techniques.''
Sensing modality has been developed based on Blair's years of experience developing and building astronomical sensors in all bands of the spectrum, including X-ray.
The ELF uses a modified CID (Charge Injection Device) detector. Its software is neural net-based discrimination and metrology competent. Using a board level computer system, Dr. Blair said the software and hardware provides signal integration times of 300 milliseconds.
''That means real-time feedback,'' said Dr. Blair.
But real-time speed is not ELF's only endearing quality. Its range of from 2 to 30 meters in the hand-held model will yield a spatial accuracy of 12 centimeters from 30 meters distance,'' he said.
ELF is designed to be easily portable by a two-person team, one to carry the X-ray and computer board power pack, while the other performs sensing operations. ''Visualization will be heads-up, showing range and azimuth location,'' said Blair. ''A supplementary Ground Positioning System (GPS) will document the specific location in ELF's Beta (field-ready) version.''
Further information is available from Loch Harris' corporate offices in Austin, Texas; phone 512-328-7808; fax 512-341-7721; or by logging onto the corporate Web site at lochharris.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements which are not historical facts contained in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve certain risks and uncertainties including but not limited to risks associated with the uncertainty of future financial results, regulatory approval processes, the impact of competitive products or other uncertainties detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SOURCE: Chemical Detection Technology, Inc.
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