Improved Sensing Using Simultaneous Orthogonal Spectroscopic Detection

US forces are increasingly involved in asymmetric warfare, peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance missions. These scenarios can place soldiers in direct contact with harmful biological and chemical warfare organisms and agents, toxic industrial chemicals, and explosives. Current portable sensor technology solutions rely on visible and near-IR Raman or Fluorescence spectroscopy. But operations in the visible/IR spectra has significant detection and classification issues while such sensors require near-contact separations with long dwell-times. A portable sensor system capable of both Raman and Fluorescence measurements using Deep UV (DUV) Excitation could overcome these shortfalls, having the ability to detect and classify trace amounts of substances at stand-off distances. ASR plans to demonstrate that combined DUV Excitation Raman and Fluorescence spectroscopy can effectively overcome current non-contact sensor limitations. ASR plans to characterize a number of agents’ spectra, determine spectral parameters for unambiguous detection, investigate hardware and software design parameters, and provide preliminary system design concepts based on currently available COTS systems and components. These activities should demonstrate the feasibility of developing and delivering a non-contact beta/prototype system in Phase II that has greater sensitivity, improves detection, and reduces false alarms in the detection of biological, chemical, toxic and explosive substances.