A distributed sensing platform for the detection of evaporated hazardous material released from moving sources

Safety and security applications often need to gather data from distributed locations and a multitude of instruments and sensors. We have developed a gas sensing platform that communicates via a wireless sensor network based on IEEE 802.15.4 and/or Ethernet. The data form this network is aggregated via a central server that feeds its information over TCP/IP into subsequent data fusion software. The sensing platform has been equipped with metal oxide gas sensors in order to identify hazardous materials1. A number of these nodes have then been placed along a corridor that persons had to pass in order to enter a restricted area. The data from the chemical sensors were fused with tracking data from laser range scanner and video systems. These tests have shown that it was possible to allocate a chemical contamination of one person within a group of moving people and discriminate between various fire accelerating fuels and solvents. These functions were demonstrated outside the laboratory with a test corridor build in a tent during a military tech‐demo in Eckernforde, Germany.Safety and security applications often need to gather data from distributed locations and a multitude of instruments and sensors. We have developed a gas sensing platform that communicates via a wireless sensor network based on IEEE 802.15.4 and/or Ethernet. The data form this network is aggregated via a central server that feeds its information over TCP/IP into subsequent data fusion software. The sensing platform has been equipped with metal oxide gas sensors in order to identify hazardous materials1. A number of these nodes have then been placed along a corridor that persons had to pass in order to enter a restricted area. The data from the chemical sensors were fused with tracking data from laser range scanner and video systems. These tests have shown that it was possible to allocate a chemical contamination of one person within a group of moving people and discriminate between various fire accelerating fuels and solvents. These functions were demonstrated outside the laboratory with a test corridor b...