Real-Time Monitoring of Toxic Metals in Subsurface with an Optical Nose (PR02-423)

70331 A sensor system is needed to accurately monitor geochemical and hydrogeologic processes and their interactions with biological organisms in contaminated soil or groundwater environments. The system must continuously monitor the concentration of contaminants, such as toxic heavy metals, in situ in the subsurface. At present, there are no compact, high performance, inexpensive systems to perform real-time monitoring of toxic metals in the subsurface. This project will develop an optical nose system that uses a fiber sensor array to produce a large number of signals, processed by a neural net that is trained to recognize different contaminants. Phase I will consist of system design, fiber sensor design, neural net design, prototyping, and testing of subsystems. Using the fiber telemetry and the automated classification ability of neural net, a sensor system that can continuously monitor heavy metals in real-time in subsurface will be developed in Phase II. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The device should have application to the monitoring of multiple contaminants in harsh environments such as DOE waste sites or where risks to personnel are too great for handheld devices. In addition, it should have broad applications in areas such as chemical agent verification on the battlefield, tracking of airborne toxins from chemicals weapons disposal, and identification of petroleum spills and leaks.