Visit the Seaward Electronic web site

Defence company places chemical detection order

An Owlstone product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jul 9, 2008

Owlstone will develop a fully integrated chemical and explosive detection prototype for specific homeland defence applications.

Owlstone Nanotech in Cambridge has received an order from Selex Galileo, one of Europe's largest defence and aerospace organisations, to develop a specialised miniature chemical detector for homeland security applications.

The contract, worth approximately GBP320,000, is the third such order Owlstone has received from Selex Galileo in 18 months and builds on an earlier contract to co-develop miniature chemical detection technology under the banner of Nexsense C.

Owlstone will develop a fully integrated chemical and explosive detection prototype for specific homeland defence applications.

Owlstone hit national and international headlines in June when it became a finalist in the Royal Academy of Engineering's MacRobert Awards for innovation, presented by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

Owlstone's platform is based on a silicon sensor that can be reprogrammed to detect a wide range of airborne or dissolved chemicals in part per billion concentrations.

The sensor uses a proprietary form of field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS), a sensitive method of trace detection.

FAIMS is a variant of ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) which has the benefit of yielding improved performance as it is miniaturised.

Michaela Clarke, caPability Manager Security and Surveillance Systems at Selex Galileo said: "We have been working closely with Owlstone and other sensor manufacturers to forward technological capabilities in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) detection".

"Working alongside Owlstone towards a mutually beneficial goal will help form key alliances to pursue mid-term business and provide a route to developing market products for the future".

Not what you're looking for? Search the site.

Back to top Back to top

Google Ads

 

Contact Owlstone

Related Stories

Contact Owlstone

 

Newsletter sign up

Request your free weekly copy of the Engineeringtalk email newsletter ...

Visit the Seaward Electronic web site

Articles by product category

All suppliers A - Z

A Pro-talk Publication

A Pro-talk publication