Advanced Robotic Detection of Chemical Agents, Toxic Industrial Gases, and IEDs for Force Health Protection.

We propose to develop a novel chemical agent sensor through a joint collaborative effort between IonFinity, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Imaginative Technologies. This chemical sensor consists of 1) a new and powerful detector called a Differential Mobility Spectrometer which has been developed at Imaginative Technologies by team member Dr. Gary Eiceman, and 2) a novel “soft-ionization” method, based upon the micro field-soft ionizing membrane that does not fragment or multiply-ionize the sampled species which has been developed recently at JPL in collaboration with IonFinity. Our goal is to design and prototype an inexpensive, compact – 2 Kg, field portable, stand-off high-efficiency, rugged, integrated detection and identification system (TRL 6 ) for chemical warfare agents, industrial toxic gases, and chemical components of Improvised Explosive Devices in air, water and solid and integrate it with one of the emerging family of Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems compliant unmanned ground vehicles intended for medical force health protection and combat casualty care missions. The device detects chemicals at low ppb levels after 10 seconds. Detection levels are similar to those of mass spectrometry but without the complicated, bulky vacuum system.