Month: November 2020

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On a blustery winter day last December, a car carrying radioactive material approached one of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s major transportation hubs. As the car got closer, an alarm flashed and sounded on a large monitor in the police operations center, identifying on a digital map the exact location of the vehicle and the specific radioactive isotope radiating from the car – Cesium-137. Within minutes, officers in the Port Authority Police Department – equipped with vehicle-mounted and pocket-sized radiation sensors displaying the same real-time digital map – tracked the vehicle and apprehended the suspects in a parking lot. Thankfully, the potential terrorists and radiation-emitting isotope were not a threat, as the scenario was only a drill.

The DARPA performers who developed the SIGMA radiation detectors and network are Physical Sciences Inc., Kromek Ltd., Silverside Detectors, and Two Six Labs.
Read the whole article: Advanced radiation detection system operational with Port Authority of New York & New Jersey

For more information, contact:

Dr. Bogdan Cosofret
Vice President, Detection Systems
cosofret@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003

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DARPA’s SIGMA+ program conducted a week-long deployment of advanced chemical and biological sensing systems in the Indianapolis metro region in August, collecting more than 250 hours of daily life background atmospheric data across five neighborhoods that helped train algorithms to more accurately detect chemical and biological threats. The testing marked the first time in the program the advanced laboratory grade instruments for chemical and biological sensing were successfully deployed as mobile sensors, increasing their versatility on the SIGMA+ network.

The DARPA SIGMA+ chemical sensors were developed by Physical Sciences Inc., Andover, Massachusetts and by Bruker Detection Corp., Billerica, Massachusetts. The biological sensors were developed by Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio.

Read the whole article: DARPA leverages background environmental data in city to refine algorithms for sniffing out threats

For more information, contact:

Dr. Bogdan Cosofret
Vice President, Detection Systems
cosofret@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003

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Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) has been awarded a program from the U.S. Army to develop the design of a prototype microwave measurement facility for dispersed radio frequency (RF) chaff materials.

PSI is developing an integrated testbed design that incorporates a chaff dispersal method with a test enclosure and microwave measurement designs to address key performance parameters for the Army testbed. The resulting design will establish a unique, compact testbed enabling quick, low-cost screening of laboratory scale quantities of new/novel chaff materials.

The Army currently lacks a dedicated test capability optimized for dispersing and screening/testing laboratory-scale quantities of RF chaff materials, and thus relies upon expensive flight testing to validate new chaff materials. This program will provide the Army with a compact, low cost testbed capability that will speed up the development cycle for new chaff materials by accelerating the testing schedule and lowering the cost of preliminary screening tests.

For more information, contact:

Dr. David Oakes
Group Leader, Aero Thermal Signatures
oakes@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003

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Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) has been awarded a research program from the U.S. Army to provide an autonomous ammunition preparation system for integration into any U.S. howitzer.
PSI’s Howitzer Ammunition Retrieval and Preparation System (HARPS) automates the process through which shells and charges are prepared to be fired. In the current method of operation for reloading the howitzer, the shell-fuzing and charge-gathering processes combined account for about 60% of the total time required to fire a single round. By automating and accelerating these lengthy manual processes, HARPS provides a ready-to-fire fuzed shell and proper set of charges every five seconds, supporting a fire rate of 12 rpm.

This core technology could be applied to AA guns, rocket artillery, mortars, and naval artillery to decrease crew size and increase sustained rate of fire. PSI’s HARPS technology could also be applied to the construction and mining industries to house and prepare equipment, increasing efficiency, reducing human workload, and protecting equipment in harsh environments.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Sean Torrez
Group Leader, Deployable Technologies
storrez@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003