FR Webinar with Rigaku, 1064nm Raman Solutions

okay hi good afternoon um welcome to federal resources crowd campus um if you're not familiar with federal resources um we're a prime on the tlsg and the rapid execution center and through our valuable partners like we're back here [Music] if you have any questions during the presentation i'll use the ask the question button at the bottom of your screen and at the end of the presentation um and nancy will answer them the best hello thank you for attending our webinar today my name is nancy otto i am the sales director for ragaku the presentation today is going to consist of a powerpoint presentation followed by a a short video of the product in being used and then followed that by two speakers that we have today uh to talk about their experiences in the real world so let me put you on uh the powerpoint presentation hopefully this will work well um how is that libby are you seeing it not yet um i did the screen and the share how are we doing nothing yeah is it not working i don't feel yet okay let me go back okay all right let's try this again sorry about that there you go okay how are we doing okay all right so just a little bit about our company who is rigaku uh rakaku proper uh is in japan and they were founded in 1951 and they are at the forefront of the analytical and industrial instrumentation technology uh they have a lot of a different product that they offer xrf xrd that is their specialty and they're very well known for their uh attention to detail for the quality of their instruments and they are headquartered in tokyo japan ragaku analytical devices however is the u.s entity of ragaku and we are located in wilmington massachusetts and we were founded in 2011 in response to the growing need for handheld analyzers we actually have two product lines we have our ramen product line we also have a libs product line that we offer as well and so if anybody is interested in metal metal analysis please contact us about that as well but our reputation is built um on best-in-class products we pioneered 1064 nanometer ramen technology and that was starting six years ago in 2015. since then we have had a lot of awards that have been given to us for product design uh five of those that you can see right here over the years the latest is in 2020 for product of new product of the year uh but we take a lot of pride in our products and we've we've spent a lot of time building that reputation for uh best in class products as well as in our customer support service that we offer as well but just going back uh over an overview of what is raman technology it is for chemical identifications of solids liquids powders paste and gels and it's ideal for unknown environments it creates a fingerprint signature of a chemical and that is uh something that is compared to a library on board the fact that it has such a large library uh to compare to makes it ideal as i said in unknown environments for analysis of things that you would experience or come across in in the environment but most of all what ramen is known for is it keeps the operator safe from harm and why is this is because it has a laser technology that shoots a laser through the container wall itself and analyzes a sample without first having to remove the sample in that removal process you could expose yourself to a potential hazard so that's why it's so important to keep the operator safe from harm during the sampling process itself um in our case the um technology is able to see through translucent packaging and that is um doesn't matter what the color is of the translucent packaging our handheld ramen are have a difference from what is currently on the market today uh it is very often found that raman technology is using 785 nanometer laser technology we use the latest generation of technology called 1064 nanometer laser technology the main difference is that our technology is virtually unaffected by fluorescence interference and that you may have seen affect the raman units of the past what that does for the customer is this fast analysis time every analysis is less than 45 seconds and this is because we don't have the interference of fluorescence that slows down the sampling process with 785 units our unit design satisfies both the novice user as well as the full scientist i think our unit is the only product on the market today that actually can be used in manual mode by a full scientist if they have spectroscopic background as well but other than that for the novice user we have a default program and that basically does all of the decision making itself for the user so all they have to do is position the sample tap the screen three times and get the results but there also is in addition to the touch screen operation there is button control operation so if you were finding yourself having to use ppe or heavy gloves you would be able to operate the unit as well so it's a complete duplication between the touch screen and the button control cell phone like software makes it very intuitive to operate the unit and it is something that you can most people can pick up and start to use um automatically this also cuts down on the training burden as well because everyone is so used to operating their cell phone our results are color coded this is for the interpretation of users who have not had any chemical background that is not even familiar with any of the chemical names the results being color-coded instantly gives them an idea of whether the chemical that they've analyzed is a threat to them or no threat or is in a caution category as well there is an onward camera on all of our units the camera is meant to add photographic evidence to the analysis any number of pictures can be taken of the scene of the sample anything that will add information to the file and be able to describe more about the sample than just providing the analytical results the pictures are embedded into the file and they cannot be removed from the file and they follow that all the way through to the results transferring the results tamper proof files very important so that if it did go to court that the court would know that nothing had been changed or modified once it had been taken by the unit and of course we have wi-fi and cable data transfer available on the units wi-fi by transferring the information by wi-fi it's in almost near time analysis mode we do have special features that we offer on the unit so it's not just point and shoot and get the answer uh one is our advanced 4c technology software this software monitors in the background while you're using the unit at a scene and if it sees that you've analyzed two or more of the precursors to a bigger threat it will send a warning on screen immediately letting you know that this is the situation this relieves the user from having to uh think about what the combinations of chemicals could represent to them so it's an early warning system and it's meant to give you the information of not only what the threat could be based on the precursors that it's analyzed but it also is telling you the identification of each of the precursors separately as well ragaku has three products in their ramen product line um our original product is the rest progeny rescue and that was launched in 2015. the progeny or the rescue sequel and the progeny flex uh both came about in early 2019. the rescue sequel is um the follow-on to the the rescue and then the flux is for narcotics only so just a little bit about our rescue our original product as i said it was launched in 2015 and again the first 1064 nanometer laser technology that was on the market at that time uh we have been evaluated and improved by the u.s army dersco program and that was in late december of 2018. uh the units that we produce are ruggedized uh 810g certified they're deconable they've been tested with all the decon solutions and they are sealed from the environment so that you can even dunk them in a bucket of water for decon should you wish the rechargeable batteries um last up anywhere from six to seven hours of battery life depending on the unit for the rescue product it is seven hours of intermittent use and we have the integrated five megapixel camera on our products as well uh we have a series of four sampling adapters or hands-free sampling as well that are easily attached to the end of the unit for different applications the rescue sql is pronounced sql it is spelled cql a lot of customers still call it the cql it's smaller and lighter in weight than the progeny rescue and it is currently in the dirsco evaluation program as well the same ruggedized um to 810g certified and accountable and the software and functionality is the same as our original product the rescue but it does have some special features on it as well we have the hot swappable battery um capability on the sql and we also it comes with the battery cradle for the cr123 batteries and we also have a flash that we added to the camera so that it's um the pictures that it takes are allowed in low light conditions as well but the most important change of the sequel or the add-on is an optional software package that is for trace detection as along with the raman identification capability of the product and for this we partnered with a company called detecticum who produces colorimetric pouches these pouches are self-contained pouches and so if you look at them as keeping the operator safe from harm as well in other color metric technologies you have had to mix sample with the the chemicals expose yourself to the sample and the chemicals used in the color metric change with those products but this is a self-contained cassette and follows along with the same philosophy of keeping the operator safe from harm our unit is compatible with 16 different detectacum pouches we add to that all the time and basically what we're doing is using the camera on board our units as the optical reader in order to read the color change and produce a report on the unit itself that will then allow you to expand the range of analysis from bulk identification by raman down to trace detection by color metric technology uh our flex unit is a narcotics only unit as it's sold however this is our basic model you can add to it and that's the the beauty of this unit it means flexible or customizable because as your needs grow as your applications change you don't have to go out and buy another product or another unit and learn training all over this is something that you can simply add to it different libraries um explosives for instance um cwas and so on for a low cost and you can add any of the features or customer support options as well it's budget friendly it's a lower cost alternative to our full version and there is no consumable cost obviously with with ramen in itself i wanted to introduce this short video on their sql product our newest product and this is by chris langford who will be the star of the show so [Music] hi i'm chris lankford a product manager at ragaku i'm excited to introduce you to our rescue sequel product rescue sql is our newest handheld ram and analyzer used for the detection and identification of unknown substances in a tactical form factor designed specifically for the demanding needs of safety and security applications the rescue sequel is the tool of choice among law enforcement customs agencies first responders and the military the rescue sql is built on our time-tested and field-proven 1064 nanometer wavelength raman engine utilizing raman means that we can provide analysis that is non-destructive analyze a wide range of material types such as solids liquids powders pastes and gels and we can scan through translucent packaging keeping you safe from exposure the added benefit of the 1064 nanometer laser is that it minimizes fluorescence issues which has been problematic for other raman instruments that utilize shorter wavelengths you now have the ability to identify color dirty or impure substances even through color packaging [Music] utilizing the 1064 ramen advantage combined with a large onboard chemical library of over 13 000 compounds that include narcotics cutting agents explosives precursors chemical warfare agents toxic industrial chemicals household chemicals and more coupled with the added benefit of allowing you to easily add new chemicals the rescue sequel broadens the range of materials that you can analyze in the field [Music] the rescue sequel can be operated either by keypad or touch screen if you're wearing light ppe and operating the instrument by touch screen blue latex or black nitrile gloves tend to work best and are recommended if you're wearing heavy ppe generally you will probably want to be using the tactile keypad for interfacing with the instrument the instrument interface is extremely easy to learn and use most users become proficient with the sql very quickly the power button is located here and then with the nose cone setting set to three and the sample flush against the nose column covering the aperture let's start the scan sequence select scan select arm laser and select scan the instrument will begin scanning the sample observe the red laser warning light that will turn on when the laser is energized once the spectral data on the sample has been collected the instrument will search its library for a match and when a match is found an identification is made typical analysis time is usually less than one minute in this example we have a perfect match for hexamine which is considered a threat in our library due to the fact that it is a fuel tablet the result screen will signify a threat with a red display a non-threat with a green display and a controlled substance with a yellow display from this screen i can interrogate the answer further by swiping to the left and right to see the resulting spectrum more detailed information about the scan in the resulting pdf report file with the rescue sql you have the ability to take a photo of your sample with an onboard camera that then automatically attaches itself to your tamper-proof pdf report the included 4c technology automatically monitors individual scans for recipes of potential greater threats an optional unique feature to the rescue sequel is the ability to detect non-visible amounts of material in quick detect mode there is a measurement delay timer to help keep the user safe from potential volatile materials the rescue sql is environmentally sealed to a rating of ip68 allowing it to be dunked in decontamination solution [Music] rescue sql has built-in wi-fi for easy transfer of data and reports as well as a usb-c connector which handles both data and power in a single connector the removable rechargeable and hot swappable battery sits behind this sealed waterproof door at the bottom of the instrument it offers five hours of continuous use the rescue sql is also compatible with disposable 123a batteries there are a number of adapters and accessories available to make sampling even easier for a diverse range of applications and sampling environments [Music] the small shield in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen indicates the instrument's calibration performance verification status a green check is good a red check indicates that calibration is required we recommend a performance verification check against the included certified sample both before and after use [Music] [Applause] [Music] the rescue sql includes a support package that includes access to our 24 7 reach back line free software upgrades and library updates for the life of you as well as a 24 month warranty okay so thank you uh for watching that video and i'm excited to say that i have two guests today with me uh who have used the ragaku units in real world real world missions um i would like to introduce jeff broder who will tell you a little bit about his experience that he had working with the eod teams um and chemical agents and then followed by that he will introduce mike brown from the dea as well so um libby um i'll let you key in on jeff good afternoon how's my audio and visual good great so thank you very much for the opportunity to address you today my name is jeff broder i retired in 2014 from the army as the assistant commandant to the u.s army chemical biological radiological nuclear school in 2018 i found myself in a company that won a department of state ins grant and we deployed to iraq to conduct toxic chemical surveys i called my buddy chris chappelle at federal resources he met me at the dulles airport marriott gave me a tutorial on the rigaku that took about two hours and then i was off to take a flight um to remain overnight and dubai and then off to baghdad the mission profile of of of what we did was we first spent the first month uh west of baghdad in the ramadi region and then transferred north of baghdad to mosul um the purpose uh was twofold for this mission set the first my primary responsibility initially was to embed myself with explosive ordnance disposal teams to determine their risk to chemical agents and offer mitigating tactics techniques and procedures for them the second once we were complete with that was to find chemical warfare agents on the battlefield and conduct toxic chemical surveys so think of iraqi army would displace isis iraqi army would call our team we would arrive conduct a toxic chemical survey of the home or the industrial facility to ensure that isis was not putting together homemade explosives read that as ieds in the kitchen and it was safe for the family to cook supper the return on investment for three tours in iraq we identified and coordinated the safe disposal of six orphan radiological sources read those read that as uh cobalt 60 that is no longer in in its intended device or location we conducted over 50 toxic chemical surveys of homes and university laboratories isis frankly decimated the mosul university system they walked their way into all of the chemical laboratories into the storage facilities they harvested what they needed for ieds and homemade explosives and they just made a mess of everything else when you do a survey like that you always assume that that liquid on the on the floor is not water it's something um far more lethal we um we were successful in interdicting in one fine 92 000 gallons of explosive precursor that was across 1 000 barrels and the ragaku rescue was our presumptive identification i'm sorry uh yes presumptive id tool that we used and then we also had the opportunity to survey three suspect improvised chemical munitions um here's my assessment as a customer of the ragaku it provided uninterrupted chemical presumptive id every every test that we presented every case that we presented to rigaku i received a report in less than one minute it was generally on the order to 40 to 60 seconds i had absolutely no maintenance issues over the course of three rotations that were about 60 days each i had no calibration issues the maintenance and the operation was intuitive the touch screen is just like my smartphone it took 40 seconds to boot up so battery management was easy i rarely went below 50 percent in a 10 hour survey day the library was so comprehensive i never i came across an unknown but even if i did the ragaku allowed me to capture this spectra and to send it back to to reach back for identification the technique that i used with the rigaku is we would swipe the sample double bag it then ziploc i would present it to the camera on the rigaku i would take a photo with my gps watch underneath it that camera captured the sample the lat long and provided a date time stamp on the photo then i ran the test it produced the spectra and the report i went back to the forward operating base at the end of the day and we set up a closed wi-fi system i pulled the data from the rescue via wi-fi to my laptop constructed our quad chart and sent the report via secure means um that's my experience with the rigaku um in world war real world conditions um we we never babied it um we did take care that uh that we didn't um um we didn't work it entirely too hard um but um at the end of the day um it it it never failed me it did its job that's my story a happy customer i'll be followed by michael brown our drug interdiction business development lead thank you okay bringing on um michael now and if you have questions for jeff specifically he probably um won't be back on to answers so if you could also maybe send us um an email and then we can we can get it answered for you okay thank you jeff while we wait for michael just a reminder there's an ask a question button on the bottom of your screen and when nancy comes back on after mike is finished we'll read them aloud and hopefully get answers for you it's rejecting my request there you are all set all set all right good afternoon everyone my name is uh michael brown and i am the business development manager for ragaku narcotics and addiction technology now before joining ragaku i worked for the u.s drug enforcement administration a 32-year veteran of which most of my time was spent overseas working in the capacity of a foreign advisor and strategic and enforcement planner assisting host countries with their counter drug interdiction issues now prior to retirement uh roughly just three weeks ago um after joining ragaku i worked as the dea country attache assigned to miramar which of course as you know was in southeast asia from 2017 to 2019 now miramar is perhaps the world's largest producer of methamphetamine which sources primarily australia new zealand and some of the oceanic countries miramar's central problem is its narcotic production issue now having been assigned to to miramar i met with and worked with the miramar drug enforcement division or ded in trying to assess their main issues um concerning narcotic production and enforcement in that country and to do that i conducted a vulnerability assessment study and found that the ded were making significant arrests they were seizing thousands of kilograms in methamphetamine and heroin but their methamphetamine problem still persisted no matter their enforcement efforts that they they conducted there was still an issue of degrading the ability of transnational criminal organizations or talk groups or actors in that country from mass producing multi-ton quantities of narcotics so looking at that problem and working with the ded in the field we quickly came to realize that the center focus of their problem was the excessive amount of precursor chemicals being shipped across the miramar chinese border into eastern shan state which is where the majority of the drug trafficking laboratories are located now in talking to their customs and borders officials their main issue was that they know all these chemicals are coming in but they're either mislabeled or not labeled at all which prevents them under their law from taking any direct action and seizing those chemicals so in essence the problem the complex problem of narcotic production in miramar was really really came down to an issue of precursor chemical trafficking now i'll refer to that as the precursor chemical supply chain and the the dea effort was to find a way in which we could degrade that precursor chemical supply chain without adding additional costs risk to their officers with their enforcement efforts in eastern shan state so in order to do that i did a very in-depth research analysis of a number of technical companies such as rugaku and other companies that produced narcotic interdiction technology and working in conjunction with my dea regional laboratory in the united states they advised that i should look at the rigaku rescue cql 1064 because that's what they were using in their laboratories and they were using in places like afghanistan and central and south america to do a very detailed analysis specifically on precursor chemicals and trying to understand better understand how narcotics are being produced because we don't understand which chemicals are being used it's very hard to have an enforcement operation so after looking at a number of devices i reached out to ragaku and explained to them my situation so in doing that i had to put together an operational plan which which was called operation viper to submit to dea headquarters my main headquarters to get funding to approve this this operation the operation viper was an enforcement strategy that was designed specifically to degrade the precursor chemical supply chain by giving a ded border enforcement officers the technology that would allow them to identify hundreds of kilograms or hundreds of tons of precursor chemicals that come into miramar on a daily basis and again the problem with the border security forces where they were not able to effectively identify which chemicals were being used for legitimate purposes and which chemicals could possibly be used for the production of methamphetamine to include a long list of pre-precursors that the traffickers were now using to augment the difficulty in obtaining some of the more necessary or essential chemicals so after submitting operation viper i got the approval to purchase three cql devices for pilot program now working with regatta we brought in a training team for two to three day extensive training on how the device works and then we took uh ded officers in the field and conducted an extensive practical application on how to use a device in the field to eliminate the possibility of mishandling or misusing the device once they went operational so after about a month of planning and training and then retraining we were able to give ded the three cqls for deployment in the field now they deployed the devices at their three most heavily trafficked cross-border checkpoints um with china and one cross-border checkpoint um in miramar just outside about 100 kilometers from the miramar chinese border now these were the these were the primary routes that the traffickers were using to transport in the open of these precursor chemicals to clandestine laboratory sites within eastern shan state now deds precursor chemical seizure rates prior to the application of the pilot program was less than one percent every once in a while they would make a very small seizure of one of the basic precursor chemicals p2p you know methylamine ammonia chloride but they were missing the more essential precursors such as thino chloride or methylamine hydrochloride which were being used to mass produce methamphetamine so after using the ragakus for about three months their seizure rate went from let's say one percent to 45 and i'm talking they were seizing multi-ton chemical shipments that were coming across the border mislabeled such as maybe hydrogen peroxide when it was really acidic anhydride now this gave the dd an opportunity to significantly degrade right degrade the capability of attack actors to move massive amounts of precursor chemicals across the border in the open two clandestine laboratories were then multi-ton quantities of methamphetamine were produced now within those three months ded made several multi-ton precursor seizures which were estimated at about 10 to 11 million dollars now that translates into about a billion dollars worth of methamphetamine production now we always get these facts confused we see big seizures and we assume oh that means that's a great seizure no a billion dollars worth of methamphetamine is not as important as a million dollars worth of precursor chemicals because without the chemicals you can't have the methamphetamine so with the success of the pilot program dea is now in the process of trying to purchase an additional 12 cql 1064 devices to to give to the ded to increase their outreach within eastern shan state to more effectively target critical infrastructure transportation points in which these precursors are being are being trans transported to critical laboratory sites and again the focus is not on arrests it's not on drug seizures but the focus is on identifying the essential precursors that are funneled through the precursor chemical supply chain from china into miramar now theoretically if ded said they had 100 units and they could outfit all their checkpoints that would significantly degrade in my opinion the methamphetamine production cycle by maybe 80 to 85 percent you know and that's significant in terms of reducing the amount of methamphetamine that then can be distributed to the far east to countries such as australia new zealand and japan who were being inundated with increased methamphetamine distribution which all links again back to the production of methamphetamine which relies heavily on the accessibility of precursor chemicals now as my my colleague jeff stated before dd they've had no problems operating the unit it is tamper-proof it they've dropped it it's been in enforcement conflicts um and the deds simply love this device and they are asking requesting more devices because this is really the use of this technology has revolutionized the law enforcement or strategic law enforcement implementation you know it's not about making arrests taking high risk high-risk chances in the jungles but it's about simply using advanced technology to significantly impact and degrade the ability of talk actors to move these chemicals and this is their achilles heel this is their vulnerability the transportation networks are open and exposed and this is what operation viper was designed to do attack the critical vulnerabilities of top actors and their use of the precursor chemical supply chain so now my current role i'm still working with dea and the ded miramar police in improving that strategy and expanding upon operation viper to include working with vietnam cambodia indonesia malaysia and australia to to fully utilize this technology in degrading this precursor chemical supply chain so i think that's about 10 minutes but again happy to to answer any questions or engage in more dialogue at the conclusion of the webcast so now i'll turn it back over to the my federal reserve moderator julian for further comments thank you thank you very much i'll bring nancy back on for um the q a and i'll also um remind you to if you want to ask a question push the ask a question button um thank you very much michael great job and then also if you um want to request a quote we have a request to quote button at the bottom as well nancy hi so i'm here to answer any questions that anyone has um we had one that was uh specific to jeff's um experience asking if he had responded to other ramen platforms apart from example unfortunately i don't know the answer to that question um i think that um i can certainly ask jeff for that experience as well but i don't see any other questions um pop up um if they are asking questions or have some questions after this please feel free to get a hold of me uh my email address is nancy.otto otto regaku.com or call me um welcome any any and all questions oh um jeff answered in the chat and said yes it was part of the dirisco kit okay all right perfect do you want to expand upon that nancy and just tell us talk about the their skill kit and their bathroom yes um as i pointed out in the presentation uh the rescue unit has been part of the dirsco kit since early 2019 and that is something that we are very proud of the sql unit is in the evaluation now and we expect results um by the end of july as to the approval of that product as well so to date we've sold 450 units into the program of these units and they are um going to continue along those lines in in the coming years okay thank you um i don't see any other questions coming in um oh i got one okay any last or smoky considerations for operators such as me for mr eyewear okay so um laser eye safety it's called the nohd distance nominal ocular hazard distance um that is always something that you need to be aware of when you're using a laser product this unit is a class 3b laser and that is um for our unit the safety glasses the eye safety glasses would be greater than an optical density of three is recommended uh the nohd distance for our unit is six feet as well but as long as it's used properly and it's covered in training how to use the unit properly it is safe to use and we don't provide the safety glasses obviously in the kit itself but you are um able to use those if that makes you feel more comfortable to use but in an operation as long as the unit is used properly meaning that it's meant to analyze samples and the sample is in place in front of the unit it is blocking the laser from coming out of the end of the unit as is focused on the sample libby um you're muted all right thanks we have a person in the chat can you okay i i didn't hear uh most of that olivier can you something about the fluorescence issue it's in the chat um okay hold on all right can you explain how fluorescence is minimized with um okay so the ramen i i assume that the ramen device that they're using is a 785 or another um laser technology um yes so laser technology um is at the heart of a raman device and it's dependent on the the laser technology that you're using to determine how they use uh or how the unit is being used with the samples 785 when you're using 785 nanometer laser technology it is affected by fluorescence which basically um let me equate that to shining a black light on a certain color and having it glow that's probably a very layman's term of a way of looking at fluorescence what it does do is it creates an interference to the spectrum by increasing the noise of the baseline to rise the baseline raise the baseline up over the pertinent peaks that is used for the identification of a sample so therefore if the unit can't see those peaks those descriptive fingerprint type peaks that are created in the spectra and then it is unable to analyze or to compare it to a library match to get an identification often what happens in what the delay is in the response using 785 is when the software algorithms take over to minimize that noise or to grind down that noise in order to be able to see the the spectral peaks again and that is dependent on how severe the fluorescence is um that's occurring and that relates to the time of analysis you can wait minutes to hours before that analysis time depending on how severe the fluorescence is 1064 is out of the range of where the the fluorescence interference occurs and so um all of our results are direct uh to the um directly shows the spectrum of the sample um as we don't have that interference and that's why all of our results are less than 45 seconds no matter what the color the material is or the color of the sample container i don't see any others so just again um if you want to reach out you can click on the requested quote that comes direct to us um i think we're gonna close this down if there's nothing else but feel free to reach out to your sales rep specifically if you have any other options too we'll have marketing resources.com or sales federalresources.com i'll um i just want to thank everybody for attending the webinar today and i look forward to working with all of you are answering your questions please contact me as i said to discuss the products that we have or the applications and i encourage everyone to go to our new website which is regakuanalytical.com to see our applications note and some of our videos thank you thank you

Channel: Federal Resources

Views: 105

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: 8S641zBiwSY

Length: 50min 8sec (3008 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 01 2021