Advanced autonomous detection of chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals has long been a major military concern. At present, our capability to rapidly assess the immediate environment is severely limited and our domestic infrastructure is burdened by the meticulous procedures required to rule out false threats. While significant advances have recently been accomplished in remote spectral sensing using rugged FTIRs and point detectors, efforts towards low cost chemical discrimination have been lacking. Foster-Miller has developed a unique waveguide spectrometer which is a paradigm shift from the conventional FTIR approach. The spectrometer provides spectral discrimination over the 3-14 μm range and will be the spectrometer platform for both active and passive detection.
Foster-Miller has leveraged its innovations in infrared fiber-optic probes and the recent development of a waveguide spectrometer to build a novel infrared sensor platform for both point and stand-off chemical sensing. A monolithic wedge-grating optic provides the spectral dispersion with low cost thermopile point or array detectors picking off the diffracted wavelengths from the optic. The integrated optic provides spectral discrimination between 3-12 μm with resolution at 16 cm-1 or better and overall optical throughput approaching 35%. The device has a fixed cylindrical grating bonded to the edge of a ZnSe conditioning “wedge”. The conditioning optic overcomes limitations of concave gratings as it accepts high angle (large FOV) light at the narrow end of the wedge and progressively conditions it to be near normal to the grating. On return, the diffracted wavelengths are concentrated on the discrete or array detector (pixel) elements by the wedge, providing throughput comparable to that of an FTIR. The waveguide spectrometer coupled to ATR probes, flow through liquid cells or multipass gas cells provides significant cost advantage over conventional sampling methodologies. We will present the enabling innovations along with present performance, sensitivity expectations and discrimination algorithm strategy.
A small, low-cost sensor capable of autonomous detection of a wide variety of chemical agents in either vapor, particulate or liquid phase is urgently needed. It now appears that this need also extends to homeland defense and the vast network of civilian security forces including police, fire, public health and emergency medical personnel. We are developing a low-cost, compact infrared Chemical Threat Monitor (CTM) that could meet this need. This palm-sized handheld instrument combines Foster-Miller's unique optical "wedge" technology coupled to novel, disposable infrared fiber optic sensors for sample collection. These technologies will be coupled to emerging high sensitivity, low-cost uncooled linear array infrared detectors optimized for this application. This combination will provide the individual user with most of the capability of today’s expensive FTIR units in a miniature robust unit that has no moving parts. In this paper we will describe the CTM device, its operation, and present preliminary results on liquid chemical agent simulants.
Advanced autonomous detection of both chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals has long been of major military concern and is becoming an increasingly realistic need. Foster-Miller has successfully designed and demonstrated a high spectral throughput monolithic wedge spectrometer capable of providing early, stand-off detection of chemical threats. Recent breakthrough innovations in IR source technologies, high D* multispectral array detectors, and IR waveguide materials has allowed for the development of a robust, miniature, monolithic infrared spectrometer. Foster-Miller recently demonstrated a high resolution spectrometer operating in the 8 to 12 micron region for chemical agent detection. Results will be presented demonstrating the feasibility of adapting the wedge spectrometer to operate as an upward looking ground sensor for stand-off chemical detection. Our miniaturized spectrometer forms the basis for deploying low cost, lightweight sensors which may be used for reconnaissance missions or delivered to remote locations for unattended operation. The ability of perform passive stand-off infrared chemical agent and chemical emissions detection with a low cost, compact device that can operate autonomously in remote environments has broad applications in both the military and commercial marketplace.
Foster-Miller has leveraged its innovations in IR fiber- optic probes and the recent development of a miniature spectrometer to build a novel IR sensor system for process applications. The developed sensor systems is a low-cost alternative to process FTIR and filter based systems. A monolithic wedge-grating optic provides the spectral dispersion with low cost thermopile point or array detectors picking off the diffracted wavelengths from the optic. The integrated optic provides spectral discrimination between 3- 12 micrometers with resolution at 8 cm-1 or better and high overall optical throughput. The device has a fixed cylindrical grating uniquely bonded to the edge of a ZnSe conditioning 'wedge'. The conditioning optic overcomes limitations of concave gratings as it accepts high angle light at the narrow end of the wedge and progressively conditions it to be near normal to the grating. On return, the diffracted wavelengths are concentrated on the discrete or array detector elements by the wedge, providing throughput comparable to that of an FTIR. The miniature spectrometer coupled to flow through liquid cells or multipass gas cells provides significant cost advantage over conventional sampling methodologies. Currently, we are investigating process applications for the petroleum and dairy markets. The sensor system eliminates the cost, complexity, reliability and bandwidth/resolution problems associated with either Fabry Perot or Michelson Interferometer based approaches for low-cost process applications.
This manuscript summarizes the effort to develop a field- portable Fourier Transform Infrared instrument that can perform a quick and accurate chemical analysis of unknown waste materials at Air Force bases without removing a sample for analysis. We report that devices containing a novel infrared fiber optic sensor can remotely detect and quantify the range of liquid hazardous waste typically found at Air Force bases.
Advanced autonomous detection of chemical warfare agents and other organic materials has long been a major military concern. While significant advances have recently been accomplished in remote spectral sensing using rugged FTIRs with point detectors, efforts towards spatial chemical discrimination have been lacking. Foster-Miller, Inc. has developed a radically different mid-IR and long wave IR spectrometer for standoff detection of chemical warfare agents and other molecular species.This no moving parts device will eliminate the cost, complexity, reliability and bandwidth/resolution problems associated with either Fabry Perot or Michelson Interferometer based approaches currently under consideration. Given the small size and performance insensitivity to on-board vibration, high EMI, thermal variations, the proposed optic would easily adapt cryocooling and field deployable requirements for low radiance detection.
Array sensors capable of multi-vapor discrimination have been developed that employ fiber optic bundles, CCD cameras, and artificial neural network processing. Sensors have been constructed both through spatial deposition of dye-containing photopolymers on an imaging fiber, and via individual polymer/dye coatings placed on individual single-core fibers and then bundled. Cross-reactive sensing regions are created by using a variety of polymers. The resulting array is then challenged with a variety of analytes. Vapor pulses give rise to temporal response patterns which are used to train a neural network. The final sensor array system can identify subsequent challenges with the analyte over extended periods of time with up to 100% accuracy. The sensor can also characterize analytes on the basis of functional groups and molecular weight, and is capable of identifying components of mixtures.
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