Remote Surface Contamination Sensor

"While stand-off detection of chemical and biological warfare (CBW) agents is a critical component of CBW defense, the military has no established capability for stand-off detection of liquid agents on surfaces. Low vapor pressure chemical agents such asVX can persist on surfaces and pose a lethal contact hazard many days after they are dispersed. The technical innovations to be demonstrated in Phase I will be hardware and software to enable Physical Sciences Inc.'s Adaptive Infrared ImagingSpectroradiometer technology to detect liquid contamination on surfaces as well as chemical vapor plumes. In order to facilitate data analysis and software development, we will develop physics-based models to predict and account for the infrared spectraof liquid-contaminated surfaces. The hardware and software developed in Phase I will be refined and integrated with an AIRIS unit in Phase II to provide the Army with a prototype sensor capable of detecting both liquid and vapor phase chemical warfareagent. The proposed program will lead to a single sensor for performing sensitive, selective stand-off detection of both liquid AND vapor phase chemical warfare agents. AIRIS's imaging and adaptive spectral sampling capability will enable wide areas to besurveyed more rapidly than with conventional stand-off sensors, e.g., imaging and non-imaging FTIR and grating spectrometers. In addition to military applications, the proposed sensor will be usefu