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    A Pipeline to Success

    A Pipeline to Success

    Courtesy Photo | This integrated early warning capability will help keep the Joint Force safe in an...... read more read more

    FT. BELVOIR, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES

    08.01.2023

    Courtesy Story

    Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Chemical and Biological Technologies Department

    Academic and industrial research into microelectronics and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) detection methods has rapidly advanced the development of low-size, weight, and power (SWaP) sensors that can provide integrated early warning and situational awareness of potential hazards for the Joint Force with a reduced logistical burden. While these microsensors offer significant promise for the next generation of CBRN threat-detection methods, inconsistent standards for evaluating sensor performance have hindered transitioning the sensors from the lab to the field. The new Deployable Microsensor Pipeline will focus on identifying and systematically evolving detection technologies through continual market research, component-through-system-level testing, and operational assessments to quickly deploy this essential function.

    To further drive innovation in CBRN threat sensors, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s (DTRA’s) Chemical and Biological Technologies Department in its role as the Joint Science and Technology Office (JSTO) for Chemical and Biological Defense, an integral component of the Chemical and Biological Defense Program, has partnered with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command – Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC) to create a more standardized sensor assessment method called the Deployable Microsensor Pipeline to ensure that the technologies best suited to provide improved CBRN detection capabilities reach the field as soon as possible.

    Microsensors are non-recoverable and readily deployable CBRN sensing capabilities that the Joint Force can strategically place around important routes, zones, and other areas. Installed either through staffed or unmanned platforms, the microsensors will communicate with one another, generating a networked array that can provide continuous area monitoring and mapping of CBRN threats. This integrated early warning capability will help keep the Joint Force safe in an operational environment by distancing warfighters from potential threats.

    The Deployable Microsensor Pipeline focuses on four efforts to identify and evolve sensor technologies:


    • Conceptualization and identification: continuous technology canvassing and horizon scanning across industry, government laboratories, and academia

    • System architecture and design: early prototyping, fabrication, integration, and algorithm/analytics and information management encoding

    • Assessment: system-level testing of the reliability, maturity, and performance of the candidate technologies

    • Demonstration: periodic technical and operational demonstrations of the technology for service-appropriate applications


    DEVCOM CBC currently uses the testing protocols developed as part of this effort to evaluate the performance of other DTRA JSTO microsensor technologies on actual chemical warfare agents.

    In addition to rigorous testing protocols, the Deployable Microsensor Pipeline also focuses on developing a common sensor architecture that will allow for swappable sensor payloads, standardizing the way disparate sensors communicate, and for assessing different methods of precise sensor placement such as unmanned platforms. With these capabilities, the Joint Force will be able to choose the specific sensing capability needed for a given mission—be it chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear—to provide them with an agile integrated early warning capability without burdening them with unnecessary gear.

    DTRA JSTO’s investment into the Deployable Microsensor Pipeline aims to help drive the next generation of low-SWaP CBRN sensors and establish a framework for the continual assessment and evaluation of emerging technologies. This sensor technology should soon join DTRA JSTO's proven history of successfully providing the Joint Force with critical capabilities.

    POC: Tyler Miller, tyler.c.miller23.civ@mail.mil

    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 08.01.2023
    Date Posted: 08.01.2023 18:04
    Story ID: 450476
    Location: FT. BELVOIR, VIRGINIA, US

    Web Views: 826
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN