SBIR-STTR Award

Chemical warfare agents with their low vapor pressure can stay on a surface for long periods of time and thus pose a serious threat to anyone coming in contact with that surface. Silicone oils, which have strong infrared absorption, around 1000 wave-numbers (10 mm), can be used to simulate chemical agents. Sky shine for example, acts as an infrared source in the 8-14 micron region of the spectrum. Liquid residual chemical agents on surfaces will show up as areas of higher absorption and can be detected with a spectral imager tuned to the appropriate wavelength band. Recent work in the area of imaging spectroscopy has shown that very weak signals can be detected by taking advantage of spatial and spectral information. Pacific Advanced Technology (PAT) using an uncooled longwave infrared hyperspectral camera, has detected silicone oil on an aluminum surface from several meters using spectral/spatial processing algorithms. PAT, along with our team member Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) will use this approach during Phase I to demonstrate the technology and improve the algorithms based upon experimentation. In addition, we will generate models based on radiometry that will determine the sensitivity of the PAT hyperspectral imaging technology for this application. A handheld Chemical Biological warfare detection camera system can be used by the US Armed Forces in the battlefield to detect harmful agents remotely before military personnel are exposed to them. The same technology can be used in the commercial market for gas leak detection in oil and gas processing plants as well as the pharmaceutical industry

Chemical warfare agents with their low vapor pressure can stay on a surface for long periods of time and pose a serious threat to anyone coming into contact with the surface. A standoff sensor that can visualize and identify such a threat is of great interest to the US military. Pacific Advanced Technology (PAT) has a technology with the capability of standoff detection and the potential for identification of these chemical agents on different surfaces. However, the phenomenology is not well understood and work needs to be done to better characterize and analyze these threatening agents on different surfaces with different illumination conditions. PAT, during this Phase I effort, has demonstrated that chemical agent simulants have different spectral signatures than interferants, such as motor oil and water, in the longwave (8 to 11 microns) infrared spectral region. During Phase II, a hyperspectral imaging system with a cooled detector array, coupled to embedded real time processing of the hyperspectral image, will be developed. Numerous data collections of various types of simulants and interferants under different illumination, and incident angle imaging, allow a better understanding of the phenomenology and thus enable the fielding of instruments that are highly reliable for this application. A handheld Chemical/Biological warfare remote imaging system that is being developed for this program can be used for gas phase detection, such as bio-aerosols and gas phase chemical warfare agents as well. It can be applied to the commercial market for gas leak detection in gas, oil and chemical refineries. In addition, it can be used to monitor gas pipeline leaks.

Keywords:
hyperspectral imaging, sttr-sbir, hyperspectral processing, uncooled infrared camera, chemical warfare