Centice Corp. has announced several enhancements to its narcotics identification system, the Mobile Field Lab-3000 (MFL-3000).

The portable MFL-3000 enables narcotic squads and drug task forces to quickly and easily perform drug identification in the field without destroying evidence. The portable device uses Centice's Raman Spectroscopy technology to create a spectral fingerprint of the substance.

This "chemical fingerprint" is then compared to Centice's embedded proprietary database of over 3,600 illegal narcotics, cutting agents, and controlled prescription drugs to ensure reliable identification, according to Centice.

New enhancements to the Mobile Field Lab-3000 include automatic updates, spectra matching improvement, and greater ruggedness.

Law enforcement professionals can quickly and easily install MFL-3000 updates via any Internet connection. Centice rolls out updates every six to eight weeks and is constantly adding new illicit substances to the database.

Improved matching algorithms strengthen the accuracy and sensitivity of the measurements used in matching sample spectra data to database spectra. This results in greater matches, greater insurance against creating "false positives" and effectively lowers the Limit of Detection (LOD) of the spectrometer, according to the company.

The MFL-3000 is housed in a waterproof Pelican case with insulated foam and can now withstand 15 G's of force for over a minute. Centice engineers demonstrated this in a recent video, which shows the device being shaken at 15 G's while mounted on a three-axis accelerometer.