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In the event of a biological attack, early detection may save lives by enabling authorities to quickly respond to the threat and warn people in the affected areas. This is especially important in densely populated urban areas.
To help facilitate early detection, Sandia is involved in a multilab project to enhance the BioWatch network, a key component in the nation’s urban biological defense. Through the BioWatch program, aerosol sampling units have been deployed in major metropolitan areas throughout the country. Samples from these units are regularly collected and analyzed to provide early warnings of possible biological attacks.
The Department of Homeland Security has asked the multilab team to support the expansion of the BioWatch system. The goal of this expansion is to increase the system’s ability to detect attacks by deploying additional aerosol collectors, including indoor collectors that will defend high-profile facilities.
As part of this effort, Sandia developed a methodology that determines the optimal siting of collectors inside each facility by taking into account facility design, operational constraints, and potential attack scenarios. We then used this methodology to design a collector architecture that is now operating in a major transportation hub.