Award Data

Emergency responders require a hand-held instrument in the field for screening specific sites for biological threat materials. In Phase I we will complete a design for an instrument, called MENTOR, which meets the needs and specifications of the emergency response teams. Innovative methods will be used to test electronic and software modules to transition the MENTOR system from a desktop to hand-h ...

In this Phase I SBIR work, we propose to test the feasibility of enhancing a hand-held wand time-domain terahertz (TD-THz) based sensor with an additional suite of low cost sensor technologies to create a multi-sensor fusion based approach. The feasibility of TDTHz signature based anomaly detection has been demonstrated previously in double-blind testing performed by an independent laboratory. A k ...

Recovering hard drive data is an integral part of computer forensics and has played a key part of many investigations. However this capability is getting significantly harder as sophisticated encryption and data protection mechanisms become routinely employed. The trend of encrypting data is growing due to market pressures and legal requirements for privacy laws, especially in the financial and me ...

To address the DHS's need for security of multimedia messages from the public to the Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) Emergency Communications Cybersecurity Center (EC3) within NG9-1-1 Emergency Service Internet Protocol Networks (ESINets), Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Hardened Encryption Routing to Mitigate External Susceptibility ...

First responders operate in emergency situations that require ruggedized gear that can survive temperature, impact, and moisture. Utilizing the communication devices that first responders already carry on them has many benefits including: always on-scene, reduced cost of distributing equipment, elimination of training requirements, and many others. Ruggedizing commercial hand held computing and ...

Rootkits are Trojan horses installed by an intruder that mask changes that have been made in a system after attack. They replace or modify intrusion or other system status detecting applications so that they report a properly functioning system to a systems administrator, when in fact, the system has been compromised. Our solution to this requires designing a Linux based PC add on card that can mo ...

To address the DHS need for a next-generation helmet with an embedded heads-up display for emergency responder personal situation awareness, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Helmet Embedded Conformal Augmented Display (HECAD) that can be easily integrated into emergency responder helmet. The proposed HECAD system is based on a unique design that integrates environmentall ...

The US Coast Guard (USCG) Search and Rescue (SAR) program’s mission is to prevent loss of life in every situation where actions or resources could possibly be brought to bear. Because of this serious obligation, the USCG expends resources to pursue all distress notifications until they can be identified as a hoax. Sector Communications Unit (CU) watchstanders typically spend 12- hour watches lis ...

This proposal describes a transportable cryocooler to be used for cooling High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors, commonly used for the detection of gamma rays. HPGe detectors are highly suitable for identifying nuclear materials, which is of great interest in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) applications. HPGe detectors need to operate near 110 K requiring refrigeration. High cooling per ...

To address the HSARPA need for an innovative prototype system for real-time detection of human targets in seawater, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new automated High Probability Weatherproof Remote Search and Rescue Seeker (HiProWSer). This proposed system is based on a high-repetition-rate, pulsed, eye-safe laser, and will offer the capability to detect human targets on t ...