Collapsible and Protective Portable Canine Shelter

Military Working Dogs (MWDs) are a critical part of modern defense strategy. There is a need for transportable MWD shelters that provide the same level of protection as warfighter Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect against chemical and biological (CB) threats, including filtered air supply and other features to ensure the health and safety of the MWD. During the Phase I project, METSS designed a collapsible, protective canine shelter that meets all threshold requirements of the SBIR solicitation, with demonstrated potential to achieve the more strenuous objective requirements through Phase II optimization. To facilitate technology transfer and acceptance, METSS has emphasized the use of commercial off the shelf products (COTS) and materials that have been already proven to protect against CB threats in an operational environment. The Phase I shelter is primarily constructed using a structural barrier material that is commonly used in CB PPE and collective protection solutions with proven protection against numerous chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and toxic industrial chemicals (TICs). The shelter frame is modeled after an existing, folding cot design that can support the weight of a large breed dog on tension-mounted fabric and presents a familiar deployment mechanism for the handler. In Phase I, METSS evaluated COTS filtered air systems to provide airflow to the shelter during use and integrated sensors into the shelter design to provide feedback to handlers on the temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration inside the shelter. Having effectively demonstrated the proposed concepts and threshold requirements in Phase I, the Phase II effort will focus on optimizing materials and system design to reduce weight, stowed volume, and operability in the field. The goal of the Phase II effort is to generate prototypes for the collapsible and protective canine shelter that are representative of Phase III commercial production units. These prototypes will demonstrate the form and function of the final shelter systems and serve as platforms for field performance testing and evaluation in operationally relevant environments.