PRSandia Labs readies its Rapidly Deployable Chemical Detection System
In a series of tests this summer, Sandia deployed its “detect to warn” system at McAfee Stadium in Oakland. A further test at the Nevada Test Site in August, where it will contend with an authentic chemical discharge, will determine when it will be delivered to DHS.
Detecting chemical threats at airports is critical, but security planners worries run far afield, including to McAfeee Stadium in Oakland, California, where, as the Oakland A’s continued their run for the pennant, Sandia National Labs recently tested its Rapidly Deployable Chemical Detection System (RDCDS). The “detect to warn” system, deployable within 24 hours, is being developed with funding from DHS and utilizes a mix of 8 nodes (64 chemical detectors) and video surveillance. RDCDS can detect a variety of chemical warfare agents, as well as common toxic industrial chemicals, and is easily adaptable to sense radiological material.
Security officials have long worried about an attack on sports facilities, but testing a chemical detection system at a baseball game is a high art. The many scents and odors attached to America’s past-time — hotdog and popcorn machines, illicit cigarette smoke, and automobile fumes — are quite strong, and filtering this “background noise” is part of the challenge. After the succesful test at McAfee, and an earlier test run at San Francisco airport, Sandia will take its device to the Nevada Test Site in August, where it will contend with an authentic chemical release.
-read more in this press release
