Smiths Detection has successfully created and demo’d an unmanned aircraft chemical detection and identification system capable of warning troops against chemical warfare agents. The detection and identification system, able to fit in the interchangeable nose cone of a Raven UAV, is a result of the collaborative efforts between Smiths Detection, AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) (Nasdaq: AVAV), the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center and other U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) laboratories.
To provide safe and effective standoff detection and identification capability of chemical hazardous events, the sophisticated chemical sensor nose cone was developed specifically to fit into AV’s RQ-11B Raven as part of a DoD program funded by the Joint Program Manager Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Contamination Avoidance, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the U.S. Army Product Manager, Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems. In a successful demonstration at the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Grounds, a chemical sensor-equipped Raven was flown into a chemical cloud and successfully detected and identified the chemical, tracking the chemical vapor plume autonomously.
The chemical sensor Smiths Detection developed for the Raven is based on its Lightweight Chemical Detector (LCD), the commercial variant of the DoD’s Joint Chemical Agent Detector (JCAD) program. The LCD has been radically modified into a new cylindrical form factor unit known as the Chemical Sensor Module (CSM), yet it retains all of the critical chemical detection and identification capabilities of the LCD. Because of the size and weight, the CSM can be integrated into AV’s Raven Small Unmanned Aircraft System (SUAS) to make it capable of automatic detection, identification and quantification of dangerous chemical warfare agents. Advanced control algorithms developed by DoD labs allow the Raven to operate in a semi-autonomous mode analyzing the data collected by the CSM and determining chemical cloud size, direction and density in real-time. The chemical detecting UAV will be demonstrated at the 2009 AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C. from October 5-7 at Smiths Detections’ booth, #2361.
