Adelaide-based company Micro-X could be set to disrupt IED disposal operations with its new Argus IED x-ray camera, which it says will allow bomb disposal technicians to safely image suspect packages remotely with greater clarity than ever.

The Argus device, which is about the size of a cereal box, uses Micro-X’s breakthrough cold cathode x-ray technology. This uses a carbon nanotube instead of an imprecise heated filament and can be shrunk down to a fraction of the size of traditional x-ray devices.

“Every other x-ray in the world, other than ours, uses a heated filament in the core of its tubes like an old-fashioned lightbulb,” CEO Peter Rowland said to ADM. “Like electric lightbulbs, that filament has a limited life, is inefficient and is difficult to control.