Computer Aided Optimization of a Vector Surveillance Tent Trap and Field Demonstration

Vigilant monitoring for disease carrying insects in regions of military deployment is vital for identifying threats to the health of soldiers. The Army issued a request for an easily deployable, safe, and high performing human-baited tent trap that will allow military entomologists to measure the health threats present to troops with a high degree of confidence. The methods, models, and devices developed during the Phase I program will serve as a foundation to build the Phase II program upon. The program is structured as a spiral product development effort which involves the fabrication and testing of evolutionary prototype tent traps (as well as their sub-systems) both in the laboratory and in the field.