U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) is a major defense test range located in the remote west desert of Utah, USA. DPG is made up of various testing facilities, extensive test grids, and impact areas. DPG’s mission is testing for chemical and biological defense. Recently, a series of large-scale chlorine releases were held at DPG, known as the Jack Rabbit II test program. The purpose of the testing was to better define public safety parameters in the event of a large-scale chlorine release. DPG deployed 100s of point sensors to quantify the test events. Three single-wavelength UV lidar systems were also developed and deployed with the goal of providing a more overall picture of these events. This was an experimental effort using principles similar to Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) to estimate chlorine concentration and track clouds downrange. Lidar systems are typically configured with two wavelengths for DIAL measurements. As our effort was experimental and had very limited funds, we used on hand ND:YAG lasers at the 355 nm wavelength only. The second wavelength was later simulated from portions of the data in which no chlorine was present. The main assumption made in using only a single wavelength was that very limited aerosols and other types of chemicals would be mixed with the chlorine cloud. This single-wavelength approach was found to be an effective method for tracking absorbing chemical vapors. We obtained an overall picture of the test event and were able to estimate concentrations in post processing.
U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) is a Major Range and Test Facility Base (MRTFB) with the mission of
testing chemical and biological defense systems and materials. DPG facilities include state-of-the-art laboratories,
extensive test grids, controlled environment calibration facilities, and a variety of referee instruments for required test
measurements. Among these referee instruments, DPG has built up a significant remote sensing capability for both
chemical and biological detection. Technologies employed for remote sensing include FTIR spectroscopy, UV
spectroscopy, Raman-shifted eye-safe lidar, and other elastic backscatter lidar systems. These systems provide referee
data for bio-simulants, chemical simulants, toxic industrial chemicals (TICs), and toxic industrial materials (TIMs). In
order to realize a successful large scale open-air test, each type of system requires calibration and characterization. DPG
has developed specific calibration facilities to meet this need. These facilities are the Joint Ambient Breeze Tunnel
(JABT), and the Active Standoff Chamber (ASC). The JABT and ASC are open ended controlled environment tunnels.
Each includes validation instrumentation to characterize simulants that are disseminated. Standoff systems are
positioned at typical field test distances to measure characterized simulants within the tunnel. Data from different types
of systems can be easily correlated using this method, making later open air test results more meaningful. DPG has a
variety of large scale test grids available for field tests. After and during testing, data from the various referee
instruments is provided in a visual format to more easily draw conclusions on the results. This presentation provides an
overview of DPG's standoff testing facilities and capabilities, as well as example data from different test scenarios.
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