A system and methods for scanning and analyzing one or more characteristics ofa sample utilizing electromagnetic radiation is described. More particularly,the system and methods utilize an electromagnetic radiation source connectedto a transmitter and an analyzer connected to a receiver. A sample to be analyzedis placed between the transmitter and receiver and a frequency sweep of electromagneticradiation is transmitted through the sample to create a series of spectral datasets, which are developed into a composite spectrogram by the analyzer and processedto determine one or more characteristics of the sample. A magnetic field can alternativelybe applied around the transmitter, receiver and sample to enhance some characteristicanalysis applications and to make other characteristic analysis applicationspossible. Samples include inert and living items and the characteristics includea wide variety of different applications. Although pattern recognition is utilizedin some applications to match a present composite spectrogram with previouslydetected spectrograms, the present composite spectrogram can also be analyzedbased on pattern components to make characteristic determinations withoutper-use calibration and without utilizing any pattern matching.
