AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Development of Clutter Aerosol Profiles for Test and Evaluation of Biological Detectors
JONATHAN ESHBAUGH, Shanna Ratnesar-Shumate, Elizabeth Corson, Johns Hopkins Univeristy Applied Physics Laboratory
Abstract Number: 305 Working Group: Homeland Security
Abstract The growing need to rapidly identify a pathogenic biological aerosol to prevent infection of a military force or domestic population has led to the development of a variety of biological aerosol sensors. These sensors have been designed to detect spore, bacterial, viral, and toxin threats. Proper evaluation of these new sensors requires that they be challenged with aerosols encountered in an operationally relevant environment. Ambient aerosols can contain both anthropogenic and natural aerosol particles that may interfere with the ability of the sensor to operate effectively. The size distribution and concentration of two operationally relevant aerosols, diesel exhaust and clay soil, that have the potential to the hinder the ability of a prospective sensor to detect biological organisms are discussed. Additionally, novel techniques are used to generate equivalent aerosols, both in size and concentration, under controlled conditions for use with the Dynamic Concentration Aerosol Generator (DyCAG). A diesel aerosol with a mass concentration of 20-50 micro-gram/m$^3 and a number peak of approximately 100 nm as well as a clay aerosol with a mass concentration of 0.25 milli-gram/m$^3 and a number peak of approximately 2,500 nm were generated. The results of these experiments demonstrate that this technique can be used to repeatedly test biological aerosol sensors under controlled conditions designed to reproduce operationally relevant aerosol challenges.