Scuppering spurious scares

By combining three different chemical vapour detectors with data fusion software developed at

Applied Research Laboratory (ARL), researchers have developed a prototype system to reduce the number of false alarms from trace chemical weapon sensors.

Dr. David C. Swanson, associate professor of acoustics, ARL senior research associate and leader of the development team, says, "All known portable chemical detection technologies that work for trace vapour concentrations outside the laboratory have problems with false alarms. These false alarms can cause evacuation of a facility, unnecessary use of chemical protective gear and eventually complacency to electronic detections that are actually true.

"Over a broad range of vapour concentrations, we were able to virtually eliminate false alarms in the 41 test trails conducted so far in which one or more of the three individual chemical detectors was in error," he adds.

The prototype development team is led by Swanson and Andrew F. Mazzara, director, Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Technologies, and includes an interdisciplinary team of ARL scientists and engineers as well as Department of Chemistry faculty members.