Non-invasive Authentication of Mail Packages using Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Spectroscopy [post]

Kelsey Horace-Herron, Naren Vikram Raj Masna, Peyman Dehghanzadeh, Soumyajit Mandal, Swarup Bhunia
2022 unpublished
The international postal network is one of the most widely used methods for correspondence throughout the world. Most postal traffic across the globe consists of legitimate interpersonal, business-consumer, and business-business communications. However, the global postal system is also utilized for criminal activity. In particular, it is often utilized to ship and distribute contraband, including illegal psychoactive drugs such as fentanyl and heroin, to consumers. Existing technological
more » ... ns are capable of identifying synthetic opioids and other illegal drugs within packages, but are accompanied by several disadvantages that make them unsuitable for large-scale authentication of international mail traffic. This paper presents a novel method for non-invasive authentication of mail packages that overcomes these challenges. The approach uses nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) spectroscopy to detect and quantify the presence of known active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) within the package. It has been experimentally demonstrated using a benchtop prototype. Test results from a variety of package types demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed authentication approach.
doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-2183687/v1 fatcat:5msm6b5sxzhzdauqtnw2drwuca