Versatile Agent Detection/Decontamination System

To address the U.S. Air Force need for a technology, enhanced with nanotechnology, to remotely and autonomously detect and neutralize chemical and biological agents, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Versatile Agent Detection/Decontamination system (VAD/D). The VAD/D concept is based on the integration of dielectrophoretic aerosol particulate trapping, Raman spectrum reading, and photocatalytic deactivation of collected particles. The VAD/D will be a stand-alone instrument capable of continuous, fully autonomous monitoring and decontamination of multiple airborne biological and chemical threat agents. The system will be highly sensitive with >95% accuracy and a frequency of false alarms <5%, and will operate in real time, be power-efficient, and be deployable in high-threat environments. It will have information processing electronics and a communication capability easily accessible to operators. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the feasibility of the VAD/D system by fabricating a prototype and demonstrating its capability to collect, identify, and destroy chem/bio agent simulants. In Phase II, POC will optimize the VAD/D design and performance parameters and develop a production–scalable process to implement the device. Also, POC will evaluate this device for its ease of production and conduct long-term reliability testing to measure effectiveness.