The European Regulatory Committee for Civil Aviation Security has recently approved a proposal to elevate a minority of the approved Liquid Explosive Detection Systems (LEDS) from the current standard 2 to a new higher level of standard 3.

This has now been formally adopted by the European Commission and notified to EU Member States. Cobalt (link opens in a new window) is pleased to announce that its product, the INSIGHT100 (link opens in a new window), was one of two systems that achieved the new standard 3 in the LEDS category Type B. This higher standard 3 requires enhanced performance from the LEDS compared to standard 2. The INSIGHT100 may now be deployed in European Airports for screening of liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGs) as a standard 3 Type B device without any modifications.

​The INSIGHT100 screens sealed bottles for liquid explosives using Cobalt’s proprietary technology for characterising materials through barriers, known as SORS (Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy). SORS is highly specific and identifies detected threats by their chemical name – because of this specificity it has a near ideal detection capability combined with an extremely low false alarm rate which is typically around 0.5% or less. The INSIGHT100 is currently on trial with a large number of European airports for possible deployment ahead of changes to the LAGs screening requirements in Europe in January 2014.

Useful links:

Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) at the CLF (link opens in a new window)

SORS and Cobalt Light Systems Ltd (link opens in a new window)