Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) is an analytical technique that separates and identifies chemical components on the basis of drift velocity of their ions in a gas phase.
The great advantage of IMS is the speed with which measurements can be performed.
A chemical substance can be detected in a few seconds.
Physical foundations of IMS were laid down in the early of 1930s, with laboratory sensing equipment based on IMS being developed and used in the 1970s. Currently, IMS is a commonly applied detection technique and new applications continue to be developed. In addition to laboratory uses, IMS is widely deployed as a law enforcement instrument. In fact more than 10,000 IMS devices are widely in use at airports globally with the U.S. military having more than 50,000 IMS devices in operation.
However the majority of IMS devices in use still utilize the initial approaches, which are now about 40 year old. Eye on Air has chosen to focus its attention on this mature technical area which resulted in advancements and further developments of IMS technology with potentially new envisaged applications of IMS units.