DHS program gives hazardous materials teams networked sensors.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Chem-Bio

When hazardous materials teams respond to a possible terrorist attack or chemical accident, they must carry sensors with them to find out exactly what they are dealing with.

The protective masks they wear make it hard to see the readings, and then they must radio the findings back to a command-and-control center. But it may be dark; and hard to read the meters. Communications may be garbled and a "13" may sound like a "30." Ambient noise may further complicate matters.

The Department of Homeland Security's science and technology directorate recently completed a multi-year effort to solve some of these problems.

The integrated chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive program developed a set of standards that allows these sensors to transmit data directly back to a higher headquarters where others can sort through the findings on a common operating picture.

That allows first responders in hot zones to concentrate on the tasks at hand. The data collected can also be seen through secure Internet connections and studied in real-time by experts anywhere in the world.

If a dirty bomb comprising radiological material were to detonate in a U.S. city, for example, an expert sitting in a national laboratory could analyze that data and immediately tell first responders on the scene what they were up against.

The directorate originally had the goal of integrating all the chemical, biological and radiological sensors that hazmat teams use into one device, said Teresa Lustig, the S&T division's ICBRNE program director.

"It became very obvious ... that if we were not using their existing equipment with their existing emergency management systems that we were setting ourselves up for failure," she said during a webcast the directorate sponsored to promote the program.

The problem with that was that these teams were using sensors from dozens of different vendors. The trick was to set up standards and convince the manufacturers that it was in their best interest to adopt them, she added.

DHS worked with the Pacific Northwest National Labs in Richland, Wash., the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego and a vendor, Safe Environment Engineering, to come up with the wireless communication system and common operating picture.

When DHS was looking for a potential partner to run a pilot program, it settled on Los Angeles County. It has 88 cities, 9.8 million residents, a population density of 2,500 people per sqtiare mile and some...