Manned, Standalone, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Portable Sensors for Detection of Biological Warfare Agents

Seattle Sensor (SSS) systems and the University of Washington are developing a sophisticated surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based sensor system. At the center of the sensor system, dubbed "SPIRIT", is the SPR Spreeta sensor chip manufactured by Texas Instruments. This chip provides an electronic signal when analytes of interest flow over and are bound to specific anti-bio/chem agent antibodies immobilized on the sensor surface. Contained within the SPIRIT system are all of the required electronic, sensor and fluidic components, including all required computing components. Due to SPIRIT's small size (< 1 cu. ft. and under 10 pounds), this highly portable system has already proven capable of detecting minute concentrations of small organics, protein toxins, viruses, bacteria and spore targets. The proposed research is directed toward further commercial development of the SPIRIT biosensor technology for real-time analysis of CBW agents. The advanced SPIRIT system will contain monitoring and reporting capability on UMVs and in "standalone" applications, allowing friendly forces to detect and react to CBW threats in a timely manner. This technology development will result in compact, portable, inexpensive and versatile biosensor systems, capable of detecting chemical and biological agents.