Biological Aerosol Field Trial: Exploring a UAS Biological Collection Point Sensor and Its Interoperability with Standoff Technology

BLAKE BECKMAN, Sylvie Buteau, Blaine Fairbrother, Amanda Weiler, Cara Bourgeois, Drew Robinson, Denis Nadeau, DRDC Suffield Research Centre

     Abstract Number: 10
     Working Group: Bioaerosols

Abstract
Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) is actively pursuing solutions in detection and identification of Chemical, Biological, and Radiological (CBR) agents utilizing a variety of techniques. The techniques used to provide advanced warning of a biological threat can range from fixed point sensor arrays, fixed stand-off technologies, and point sensors that have been integrated into Unmanned Ground and Aerial Vehicles (UGV/UAV). Each technology has limitations but a combination of these systems can leverage each other’s strengths, while minimizing the gaps, to provide a more complete understanding of the hazardous environment. Military personnel desire a rapid and concise understanding of the threat environment with field forward technologies in order to pursue the most appropriate path to mission success. In 2022, the Suffield Research Centre (SRC) held a biological aerosol field trial to explore the performance of a custom biological sampling point sensor designed for Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operations and its interoperability with standoff technology against biological threat simulants Bacillus atrophaeus (BG) and Ovalbumin (OV). The broad goals of the trial series were to understand how to obtain, consolidate, and transfer information on biological hazards for relevant decision makers. Some of the specific trial goals were to understand how to localize the source of the dispersal, track the dispersal in real-time, take a sample of the simulant in real-time, and post process the sample using field forward biological identification technologies. In total, 25 trials were conducted over four days that released BG and OV in varying concentrations to understand the interplay of tasking mobile point sensors from standoff technologies. Each specific trial also tried to determine the optimal placement of the UAV in the dispersal cloud, its duration in the cloud, and the relationship between the real-time sensor information of the UAV and the collection filter. The tools used to acquire and process the information include a LIDAR-based standoff system called BioSense, a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) called the SkyRanger® R70, a fixed or mobile particle sizing and counting point sensor with a collection filter, Chemical/Biological (CB) Sensor Data Viewer software, Interaction Manager software, and UAS payload software.