Low-cost Rapid Stand-off Detection of Explosives

Detection and neutralization of explosive hazards including Home Made Explosives (HMEs) and Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is an important problem for U.S. Army. IED attacks accounted for 62% of all U.S. casualties in Operation Enduring Freedom and are now accepted as a significant threat to homeland security and the U.S. forces all over the world. Hence, from a detection perspective, a capability to detect a wide range of military and HME explosives used in IEDs is needed.Several methods, ranging from spectroscopic, colorimetric, chemical, optical and luminescence based techniques have been applied to detect explosive hazards at levels varying from micro to milligram per cm2 (trace) to grams per cm2 (bulk). However, there is no one technique that has all the features required for widespread deployment. Many of the spectroscopic techniques suffer from high cost and a medium to large footprint which constrains their use, and some employ laser illumination which raises radiation safety issues.TDA Research Inc (TDA), in collaboration with Texas Tech University (TTU), proposes to develop a low cost rapid multimodal stand-off trace explosive detection device to provide reliable detection and identification of the class of the explosives fromtrace vapors and surface residues.