Pre-Trial Assessment (PTA) of the Inscentinel system using bees for detection of explosives.

Conduct a preliminary assessment of the Insense system using bees for detection of explosive detection with the view to carrying out a more comprehensive trial dependant on the result.

QinetiQ was tasked by DFID to undertake a preliminary assessment of a technique under development by Inscentinel Ltd (Harpenden UK) using honeybees to detect a range of chemicals including explosives. The group had trained bees to expect a feed when exposed to chemical vapours, and the bees would respond by extending their feeding proboscis- a reaction that could be automatically detected using a simple miniature camera and imaging processing system, with the bees held in special cartridges.
The visit to the Inscentinel Laboratories in order to perform a pre-trial assessment (PTA) took place in January 2004.



Assessment of the Inscentinel system using bees as a method of explosive detection.

The Pre-Trial Assessment (PTA) concluded that the technique appears to have potential for use in mine detection as a convenient and cost effective alternative to dogs, although at the time of the visit the system was limited to laboratory use only. Support for further development of the techniques was recommended.
 Further testing of the inscentinel system for demining purposes will depend on the future development of the product.


United Kingdom

completed