AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Development of Calibration Standards for BW Aerosol Sensors
JESSE LINNELL, Trina Vian, Jay Eversole, Vasanthi Sivaprakasam, John Tucker, Joseph Morency, Adam Dai, MIT
Abstract Number: 753 Working Group: Homeland Security
Abstract In response to recent increases in potential biological warfare (BW) threats from either state-sponsored or terrorist actors, there has been a period of rapid development and deployment of BW aerosol detection systems. Now that the first generation of these systems has become operational, attention has turned to related sustainment issues and maintenance requirements such as routine calibration of these sensors.
The Joint Project Manager for Biological Defense, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL) are currently collaborating on a program to address challenges associated with determination of degradation of operational BW sensors known as point detectors. The two main thrusts of this program are the development of a suitable aerosol particle reference standard, and a portable aerosol generation system ruggedized for field use. Since the system must be capable of field site use, the calibration aerosol material must be non-hazardous and potentially commercially available with highly reliable and repeatable properties. NRL has taken on the first task by examining commercially available polymer beads in terms of their spectral optical properties to determine suitable candidates for biological particle surrogates.
In parallel, MIT Lincoln Laboratory has focused on the second challenge of developing a mobile aerosol generation and conditioning system that will deliver reliable and repeatable low aerosol concentrations for sensor tests. A test methodology has been designed that minimizes test duration while identifying sensors that require maintenance at a 99.95% confidence level. This aerosol generation system, referred to as the Interim Point Detector Analyzer, is currently being automated and repackaged for smaller size and portability, and will soon undergo extensive field tests under a variety of environmental conditions.
This poster will summarize the NRL and MIT LL work to date on the IPDA development effort.