Autonomous Underwater Sensing of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Nomadics has teamed with the University of Rhode Island to propose a sensor payload to be carried by a REMUS unmanned underwater vehicle in order to patrol coastal regions and the areas around deployed ships for protection against attack. The system willbe able to patrol large areas autonomously and detect threats from radiological, chemical, and biological weapons of mass destruction. Further, the device will allow mapping of the extent of releases from such weapons. A chief component of the sensorpackage will be a revolutionary technology based on an amplifying fluorescent polymer developed at MIT. The polymer has been demonstrated to be effective in the detection of explosives as well as chemical and biological warfare agents.Government-conducted tests have demonstrated that the sensor can detect landmines with a sensitivity many times greater than available systems. The AFP has exhibited detection of explosives and BW/CW surrogates in water. In tests for the Office of NavalResearch, Nomadics has deployed a prototype AFP sensor on a crawler that carried the detection payload underwater and was able to provide real-time detection and mapping of TNT plumes in the water. The proposed design is modular to help ensure low costs,flexibility, and maintainability. The proposed system will be capable of patrolling coastlines and the areas around ships abroad to detect covert attacks using weapons of mass destruction. Once detected, the system can also map the extent of any releases.By implementing detectors sensitive to other analytes, the device will have commercial application for the detection of environmental contaminant releases, search and rescue operations, oceanography research, and other functions.