Miniaturized SAW Sensor Array Field Instrument for the Detection of Toxic Chemicals

As a result of the Iraqi conflict, it is now commonly accepted that an increasing number of Third World countries either possess or are developing the capability to produce chemical weaspons. This increasing weapons threat necessitates the development of highly sensitive and selective detection concepts that are small for portability, low power consumption for extended battery operation, cimple to operate for use by combat troops and field up-gradable as new chemical threats are identified. We propose to meet these strident requirements by further miniaturization of our commercial surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor hybrid electronics assembly and configuring the resulting small discrete SAW sensor subassemblies sequentially into a hand-held "flash-light" shaped multiple sensor assembly. The configuration permits high sample flow rates which dramatically improves the lower limit of detection without complex pneumatic systems. The lower limit of detection is predicted to be less than 0.1 mg/m3.