The high and still increasing number of attacks by hazardous bioorganic materials makes enormous demands on their detection. A very high detection sensitivity and differentiability are essential, as well as a rapid identification with low false alarm rates. One single technology can hardly achieve this. Point sensors can collect and identify materials, but finding an appropriate position is time consuming and involves several risks. Laser based standoff detection, however, can immediately provide information on propagation and compound type of a released hazardous material. The coupling of both methods may illustrate a solution to optimize the acquisition and detection of hazardous substances.
At DLR Lampoldshausen, bioorganic substances are measured, based on laser induced fluorescence (LIF), and subsequently classified. In this work, a procedure is presented, which utilizes lots of information (time-dependent spectral data, local information) and predicts the presence of hazardous substances by statistical data analysis. For that purpose, studies are carried out on a free transmission range at a distance of 22m at two different excitation wavelengths alternating between 280nm and 355 nm. Time-dependent fluorescence spectra are recorded by a gated intensified CCD camera (iCCD). An automated signal processing allows fast and deterministic data collection and a direct subsequent classification of the detected substances. The variation of the substance parameters (physical state, concentration) is included within this method.
The challenges of detecting hazardous biological materials are manifold: Such material has to be discriminated from other substances in various natural surroundings. The detection sensitivity should be extremely high. As living material may reproduce itself, already one single bacterium may represent a high risk. Of course, identification should be quite fast with a low false alarm rate. Up to now, there is no single technique to solve this problem. Point sensors may collect material and identify it, but the problems of fast identification and especially of appropriate positioning of local collectors are sophisticated. On the other hand, laser based standoff detection may instantaneously provide the information of some accidental spillage of material by detecting the generated thin cloud. LIF technique may classify but hardly identify the substance. A solution can be the use of LIF technique in a first step to collect primary data and – if necessary- followed by utilizing these data for an optimized positioning of point sensors. We perform studies on an open air laser test range at distances between 20 and 135 m applying LIF technique to detect and classify aerosols. In order to employ LIF capability, we use a laser source emitting two wavelengths alternatively, 280 and 355 nm, respectively. Moreover, the time dependence of fluorescence spectra is recorded by a gated intensified CCD camera. Signal processing is performed by dedicated software for spectral pattern recognition. The direct comparison of all results leads to a basic classification of the various compounds.
The NarTest fluorescent technique is aimed at the detection of analyte of interest in street samples by recognition of its
specific spectral patterns in 3-dimentional Spectral Fluorescent Signatures (SFS) measured with NTX2000 analyzer
without chromatographic or other separation of controlled substances from a mixture with cutting agents. The illicit
drugs have their own characteristic SFS features which can be used for detection and identification of narcotics, however
typical street sample consists of a mixture with cutting agents: adulterants and diluents. Many of them interfere the
spectral shape of SFS. The expert system based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) has been developed and applied
for such pattern recognition in SFS of street samples of illicit drugs.
The airborne FLS-Lidars are based on the method of Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) and aimed at the analytical
remote sensing of water objects. Scanning the laser beam across the flight trajectory and recording the comprehensive
LIF spectrum with hyperspectral detector per every laser pulse provide detail maps of spectral properties of the water
basins. A multi-tier model for integrated environmental assessment is applied for further analysis of this information to
combine the benefits of "big-picture" capability of remote sensing techniques and GIS solutions with localized on-theground
environmental data gathering.
In this concept far looking satellite and airborne systems provide the highest tier information. The airborne data
acquisition with FLS-Lidar is considered as the middle tier characterized by vast amount of LIF data with high spatial
(less than 10 m) and spectral (less than 5 nm in UV/VIS spectral ranges) resolution. The lower tier is anchored with the
geographical locations of important findings detected at the middle tier. Taken water samples are analyzed with fastscreening
technology of Spectral Fluorescence Signatures (SFS) giving more analytical qualitative and quantitative
results. And the base tier includes detail laboratory analysis of characteristic samples selected at the lower tier. Precisely
geo-referenced LIF data of hyperspectral FLS-Lidar anchored to and calibrated by the ground SFS data allows detection
of pollution incidents and mapping of environmental trends over vast water systems like coastal zone, lakes and rivers.r
The SFS technology has already proved its analytical capabilities in a variety of industrial and environmental tasks.
Recently it has been introduced for forensic applications. The key features of the SFS method - measuring a
3-dimensional spectrum of fluorescence of the sample (intensity versus excitation and emission wavelengths) with
following recognition of specific spectral patterns of SFS responsible for individual drugs - provide an effective tool for
the analysis of untreated seized samples, without any separation of the substance of interest from its mixture with
accompanying cutting agents and diluents as a preparatory step. In such approach the chemical analysis of the sample is
substituted by the analysis of SFS matrix visualized as an optical image.
The SFS technology of drug detection is realized by NarTest® NTX2000 analyzer, compact device intended to measure
suspicious samples in liquid, solid and powder forms. It simplifies the detection process due to fully automated
procedures of SFS measuring and integrated expert system for recognition of spectral patterns. Presently the expert
system of NTX2000 is able to detect marijuana, cocaine, heroin, MDMA, amphetamine and methamphetamine with the
detection limit down to 5% of the drug concentration in various mixtures. The numerous tests with street samples
confirmed that the use of SFS method provides reliable results with high sensitivity and selectivity for identification of
drugs of abuse. More than 3000 street samples of the aforesaid drugs were analyzed with NTX2000 during validation
process, and the correspondence of SFS results and conclusions of standard forensic analyses with GC/MS techniques
was in 99.4% cases.
Delay between the time when natural disaster, for example, oil accident in coastal water, occurred and the time when environmental protection actions, for example, water and shoreline clean-up, started is of significant importance. Mostly remote sensing techniques are considered as (near) real-time and suitable for multiple tasks. These techniques in combination with rapid environmental assessment methodologies would form multi-tier environmental assessment model, which allows creating (near) real-time datasets and optimizing sampling scenarios. This paper presents the idea of three-tier environmental assessment model. Here all three tiers are briefly described to show the linkages between them, with a particular focus on the first tier. Furthermore, it is described how large-scale environmental assessment can be improved by using an airborne 3-D scanning FLS-AM series hyperspectral lidar. This new aircraft-based sensor is typically applied for oil mapping on sea/ground surface and extracting optical features of subjects. In general, a sampling network, which is based on three-tier environmental assessment model, can include ship(s) and aircraft(s). The airborne 3-D scanning FLS-AM series hyperspectral lidar helps to speed up the whole process of assessing of area of natural disaster significantly, because this is a real-time remote sensing mean. For instance, it can deliver such information as georeferenced oil spill position in WGS-84, the estimated size of the whole oil spill, and the estimated amount of oil in seawater or on ground. All information is produced in digital form and, thus, can be directly transferred into a customer’s GIS (Geographical Information System) system.
The paper overviews capabilities of a multi-wavelength laser remote sensing technique in real-time analytical monitoring of aquatic and terrestrial targets. The conceptual design of the Fluorescent Lidar Spectrometer (FLS) - a compact, multipurpose analytical lidar - is described. Its modular architecture allows efficient research and routine monitoring applications from small boats or aircraft. Depending on the application requirements, the FLS analytical performance can be optimized with features such as variable excitation wavelengths and high-speed, gated hyper-spectral detection. The Spectral Fluorescent Signature (SFS) concept, which forms the background for the FLS functioning, has been successful in the detection and identification of trace organics in various environmental, industrial and other mixtures.
FLS-lidars have been used in a variety of applications ranging from detecting chemical pollution in water and on soil to classifying marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) and mapping spatial distributions of phytoplankton in the Baltic, North and Norwegian seas. The presented field data obtained with shipborne and airborne FLS illustrate the approachs potential for real-time monitoring of marine, coastal and inland-water environments. Future developments are discussed.
An approach of on-line fluorescent analysis of organic compounds in a water is described based on multiwavelength sensing of water environment. Developed techniques are realized in remote mode to inspect large water surfaces as well as in flow-trough mode to diagnose the water quality in the pipes and open streams. The tuneable fluorescent lidars FLS-S and FLS-A for shipboard and airborne applications and compact flow-through spectrofluorimeter FLUO- IMAGER are described.
Field measurements of the spatial distribution of phytoplankton by tunable lidar on board a research vessel are reported. The possibility of applying laser remote sensing to the diagnostics of hydrophysical processes in the upper layers of the sea is discussed. Twelve tracks in different directions were sensed. Marked periodical structures were observed when the vessel was moving at small angles in the direction of a swell. The frequencies of periodic structures correlated with the angle between the vessel's motion and swell directions. When this angle was increased, the frequency increased proportionally. At a right angle, the periodic structures disappeared. The results do not contradict the hypothesis of the influence of internal waves on the spatial distribution of phytoplankton.
The results of remote field diagnostics of brackish-water phytoplankton by tunable lidar on board a research vessel are presented. The authors have developed a study approach based on the spectral signature method and the method of selective excitation of phytoplankton pigments to detect pigment composition of phytoplankton communities in vivo.
Experimental results on remote sea sensing from a research vessel by wavelength tunable lidar with a multichannel optical detector are given. The performances of the spectral signatures method for diagnostics of water media containing phytoplankton pigments, dissolved organics, oil pollutants at low concentration levels, etc., are discussed.
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