On April 11, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T)
announced a new 18-month, $2.9 million contract award to ENSCO, Inc. for
continued work on SenseNet, an effort to develop a low-cost integrated sensor
system that can detect biological health hazards in buildings and other
high-occupancy indoor facilities. DHS initiated the SenseNet program to improve
biological detection system performance by further integrating and fusing
multiple sensor types, and developed strategies to share the cost burden of a
system through commercial utility and application.
“Biological and environmental
health hazards can pose a high threat to our nation. S&T is working to
develop an innovative solution to this evolving problem using sensors that not
only quickly and accurately detect possible hazards, but also distinguish
between naturally occurring events and those that may be threats,” said William
Bryan, senior official performing the duties of the under secretary for science
and technology. “SenseNet is a key example of how S&T is creating new
approaches to help protect American citizens and infrastructure.”
During prior phases
of the program, ENSCO designed, developed, and successfully demonstrated a
prototype system that could be adapted for a variety of building layouts. This
current effort will build an architecture that integrates multiple sensor types
that are potentially highly distributed and will generate data that can be
collected and analyzed in the cloud for rapid situational awareness and
response.
With this new award, ENSCO will continue to develop, integrate, test, and demonstrate a tiered aerosol detection system that combines low-cost and rapid dedicated environmental monitoring sensors with newly emerging commercial sensors being used by citizens and facility owners for air quality, pollution tracking, and building efficiency purposes.
Source: DHS
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