L. Malotky, Transportation Security Administration, Arlington, VA
The protection of our national transportation infrastructure depends on the detection of potential threats and the mitigation of those threats that escape detection. Threat detection depends on identifying the potential threat, understanding and exploiting its unique materials properties and developing effecting and effective technologies for detection.
There are significant challenges remaining in the area of explosive trace detection. The target to be detected is a 10 micron explosive particle clinging tenaciously to a surface. The technology in place in airports today is very capable of detecting this particle, if it can be delivered to the detector. The challenge is separating the particle from the surface where it is cemented in place by surface forces, polymer binder or fingerprint oils, and moving it to the detector. We need to understand what is happening at the surface, and develop methods to efficiently harvest and move the few nanograms of sample we may have. We are also interested in blast resistant materials that can be used to mitigate the effects of an explosive device that may have escaped detection. The operational demands of transportation drive us to materials that are light, inexpensive and easy to fabricate, yet will be blast resistant.
The protection of our national transportation infrastructure depends on the detection of threats and the mitigation of those threats that escape detection. Threat detection depends on identifying the potential threat, understanding its unique materials properties and developing detection technologies that exploit these properties.
