Patent ID: 8153435

Claim:
A method for remotely tracing an object through emitted atmospheric chemical traces, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a tag physically associated with the object having a reservoir of an encapsulated liquid perfluorinated tracer (PFT) having at least one of (i) a —CF 2 —CF 2 — portion, or (ii) spectral characteristics corresponding to highly electronegative fluorine substituents of an organic composition, the encapsulated liquid PFT being contained within a plurality of permeable wall capsules contained within a polymer matrix having an external surface having a controlled matrix permeability for the PFT, which in turn is blocked from atmospheric release before activation by an impermeable barrier provided on the surface of the polymer matrix, to prevent detectable release of PFT into the atmosphere prior to activation; (b) activating the tag by altering the impermeable barrier to commence remotely detectable release of volatilized PFT from the surface of the polymer matrix at a rate sufficiently high to facilitate remote detection of volatilized PFT from the tag in the atmosphere; and (c) restricting a release of from the surface of the polymer matrix to maintain a steady state of volatilized PFT release at the sufficiently high rate over an extended duration, having a PFT volatilization rate substantially dependent on the controlled permeability of the controlled polymer matrix permeability and an exposed area of the surface of the polymer matrix.