Brilliant idea - sensors in sewers
The residues of most bomb making materials are chemically very active.
This story makes a lot of sense -- from
Slashdot:
Forget the Internet, NSA: EU Security Sniffs Sewers for Bombs
Talk about the Internet of Things (in unsavory places): The National Security Agency may never wean itself from its digital-data habit, but security agencies in Europe have found a whole new way to identify and approach bombmakers and other potentially dangerous radicals.
The only problem with the approach is that it stinks. Literally.
Researchers in a European-Union funded project called Emphasis are developing chemical sensors that can be embedded in networks of underground sewage tunnels to sniff the air and phone home at the first hint of chemical residue from the manufacture of bombs.
Using remote sensors might be effective because the liquid- and gas byproducts of bomb production � and manufacture of many drugs as well � leak, seep or are poured into sinks and toilets to get rid of the evidence, according to Hans Onnerud, an analytical chemist with the Swedish Defense Research Agency.
Very smart idea -- they do not need that many sensors, they just have to place them in the major sewer lines. The chemicals will be persistent and the bomb-making activity will take more than a day or two.
A simple application of binary search and you narrow down several hundred sewer lines into 20 search locations. Narrow it down to the city block - gas chromatography for the house and room number.
Posted by DaveH at November 2, 2013 9:48 PM