United States Department of Transportation
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Abstract:One of the most important problems facing the U.S. Department of Transportation is the detection of illegal chemicals and explosives entering this country. There are various government agencies performing detection by means of physical inspections, sophisticated detection instrumentation and trained "sniffing" dogs. All of these methods have their limitations, especially costs. The purpose of this investigation was to study the feasibility of integrating a variety of microcantilever sensors into a hand-held sensor system capable of sensing and identifying illegal explosives. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Huntsville have developed the capability to design, fabricate and test microcantilever devices that can detect trace amounts of most organic and inorganic chemicals. These sensors are so sensitive that, in some cases, they can exceed the sensitivity of trained dogs. The sensors are small enough that many sensors can be placed on a single silicon chip. An extensive literature search was performed to determine the U.S. Department of Transportation's challenges in detecting contraband explosives. This included a technical evaluation of present-day detection instrumentation and the capabilities of sniffing dogs. This was followed by a detailed study of microcantilever technology and its application to explosives detection. To determine the latest state-of-the-art, interviews were conducted with a customs inspector, a sniffing dog handler, and the head of a microcantilever laboratory. Other sensor technology was investigated to ensure that microcantilevers are indeed the most appropriate for explosives detection. The investigation concluded with a prototype design of a multi-sensor system, and a cost analysis of fabricating such a system.
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