IARPA posts new BAA for the MAEGLIN program

On March 11, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) posted a new broad agency announcement for the Molecular Analyzer for Efficient Gas-phase Low-power INterrogation (MAEGLIN) program.

Chemical detection is an Intelligence Community (IC) priority, needed for applications such as forensic analysis, border and facility protection, and stockpile and production monitoring. In particular, the IC has an interest in local and continuous monitoring of the chemical environment in remote site areas over long periods of time without human oversight. However, current technology cannot simultaneously provide laboratory-quality sensitivity and accuracy, the ability to identify all constituents of a complex chemical mixture, a small, ruggedized package, and autonomous long-term operation.
The Molecular Analyzer for Efficient Gas-phase Low-power INterrogation (MAEGLIN) program intends to develop an ultra-low-power chemical analysis system for remote site detection and identification of explosives, chemical weapons, industrial toxins and pollutants, narcotics, and nuclear materials in the presence of significant background and interferents. Program goals include definitive chemical identification of species with an atomic mass <500 amu; a system footprint of less than or equal to 1.5 liters; a weight of less than or equal to 7 kg, including sufficient power and, if necessary, consumables for two-year operation with daily sample analysis; and autonomous operation (including calibration). The autonomous collection and analysis of gases is a required capability; modular, interchangeable input units enabling the analysis of bulk liquid and solid samples (introduced by a user) and liquid or particulate aerosols (either collected autonomously or introduced by a user) are desirable additional capabilities.

The key overarching objective of the MAEGLIN program is to be able to separate and identify a broad range of chemical species with high sensitivity and specificity. The separation requirement enables full analysis of complex mixtures with minimal impact from interferents or background chemicals and materials, and detection of chemicals of interest with concentrations that may be several orders of magnitude below the ambient chemical background. The ability to identify a broad range of chemical species enables a single remote site detector to screen for multiple chemical targets of interest and allows analysis of subtle changes in the overall chemical effluent from monitored locations – especially when there are several possible target molecules.

Full information is available here.

Source: FedBizOpps