Low Power, Rapid Detector of Trace Underwater Explosives

The current state-of-the-art for an underwater unexploded ordnance (UUXO) detector is a single analyte sensor for detection of TNT, which only partially addresses the Navys requirement to detect the full range of explosive threats. Because of the low solubility of explosive compounds in water, the concentration of explosives near UUXO is likely to be extremely low. Furthermore, once the explosive compound is released, it rapidly mixes in the surrounding water. Prevailing currents make the explosive concentration highly localized and non-uniform, requiring good sensor time response to avoid averaging out of the plume signal. Furthermore, chemical and biological interferents in the seawater can introduce bias and complicate the analysis. For these reasons, analyzers with superb sensitivity, time-response, and multi-analyte sensitivity are required for this application. Mainstream Engineering proposes a system that is a multi-analyte sensor system to detect explosive threat compounds of interest (both nitro-based and peroxide-based) at operationally relevant concentrations in seawater. In addition, the sensor will be compact, low-power, and ruggedize for a marine environment about an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV).