• AIRPORT SECURITYImproving the Speed and Safety of Airport Security Screening

    By Anne McGovern

    For decades, airports around the nation have employed sensitive canine noses to detect concealed explosives. While this four-legged fleet has been effective and efficient, researchers have yet to build a mechanical method that can mimic their abilities. Researchers seek ways to build non-contact screening methods that can detect concealed explosives at airports.

  • WILDFIRESStoking Wildfire Resilience in Oregon

    Monitoring allows all the moving pieces of an emergency response to launch into action and for decision makers to have as much time as possible to assess and mitigate the threat. This is certainly true when it comes to wildfires. S&T is piloting smoke detection sensors ahead of the 2023 wildfire season.

  • COASTAL CHALLENGESNew Generator Rolls into Ocean Energy

    Tsunamis, hurricanes, and maritime weather are monitored using sensors and other devices on platforms in the ocean to help keep coastal communities safe—until the batteries on these platforms run out of juice. The nanogenerator harnesses the energy of the ocean to power sensors and more.

  • FLOODSLow-Cost Sensor Records the Level of Rivers

    Researchers have developed a method that allows the water level of rivers to be monitored around the clock. The cost-effective sensor is for instance suitable for area-wide flood warning systems.

  • FIRE DETECTIONSensor Technology Detects Fires Before They Start

    Fire alarms generally operate by detecting the presence of smoke, open flame, or higher-than-normal levels of carbon monoxide. Such indicators, however, are byproducts of a fire once it has already started. By using functional nanomaterials-based fire sensor technology, researchers hope to take a step forward from existing detection methods.

  • BRIDGESMobile Data Collected While Traveling Over Bridges Could Help Evaluate Their Integrity

    By Peter Dizikes

    A new study suggests mobile data collected while traveling over bridges could help evaluate their integrity.

  • FLOODSSeismic Sensing Reveals Flood Damage Potential

    Rapidly evolving floods are a major and growing hazard worldwide. Currently, their onset and evolution are hard to identify using existing systems. Seismic sensors already in place to detect earthquakes could be a solution to this problem.

  • VOLCANIC ERUPTIONSNew System Could Provide Early Warning of Whakaari Eruption Risk

    Kiwi volcanologists and engineers have finished testing an automated system that provides a warning when an eruption on Whakaari (White Island) becomes more likely.

  • WILDFIRESNext Generation Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Alerting Technology

    DHS S&T concluded a proof-of-concept demonstration of the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) integration model. The model integrates next generation technologies with FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) enabling alerting authorities to disseminate Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) with new capabilities.

  • FIRE DETECTIONWi-Fi System Improves Fire Detection

    Engineers have developed a new fire detection system that could help save lives by monitoring the changes in Wi-Fi signals. A Sydney Harbour Tunnel explosion showcases the work of the researchers, which use wireless signals and artificial intelligence to more accurately identify dangerous fire situations.

  • DETECTIONMaking Muons for Scientific Discovery, National Security

    The Pentagon and other agencies have sought advanced sources that generate gamma rays, X-rays, neutrons, protons, and electrons to enable a variety of scientific, commercial, and defense applications – from medical diagnostics, to scans of cargo containers for dangerous materials, to non-destructive testing of aircraft and their parts to see internal defects. The problem: None of these sources can image through concrete walls several meters thick, map the core of a volcano from the outside, or peer deep underground to locate chambers and tunnels. Muons — deeply penetrating subatomic particles – can do all those things. DARPA seeks a compact source for muons.

  • WILDFIRESNew Wildfire Detection System Receives Funding Boost

    The high intensity of the recent fire seasons in Oregon, coupled with the increasing wildfire risk this year as approximately three-quarters of the state is now in severe drought conditions, has highlighted how critical a new project, aiming to help with the early detection and monitoring of wildfires, is — both for firefighters and the general public.

  • TRAVEL SAFETYFog Detection Software Helps Keep Travelers Safe

    Fog and low stratus clouds over airports can create dangerous travel conditions that result in costly delays and disrupted travel plans. A new fog detection software will help.

  • FloodsFlood Sensors to Support NYC Real-Time Flood Monitoring, Response

    In the face of climate change, which is likely to increase the frequency and severity of floods, NYC needs access to real-time data providing critical information on when and where flooding occurs.

  • WMDWMD Threat Sensors Deployed on Police Vehicles

    DARPA’s SIGMA+ program completed a 3-month test in Indianapolis, in which CBRNE sensors were deployed on IMPD vehicles.