Mobile phones are increasingly a more viable platform for a human carried sensor web that requires no human input. The Department of Homeland Security’s Cell-All Initiative aims to create a cheap low-cost chemical sniffing sensor that could be added to cell phones and tuned to periodically sniff for certain volatile chemical compounds. If the cell phone sensor detected the compounds it would send a signal to the user, and also report data to a local emergency operations center.
The emphasis that DHS places on this concept is the ability for sensors to quickly detect and communicate the details of the volatile compounds, which isn’t something that humans would be able to do as many of the compounds are colorless and odorless. The goal is the creation of a small low-cost sensor that is tuned to different compounds, and that becomes an easy add-on to each phone.
While there are obvious privacy concerns, DHS diffuses this question by stating that the program would be an opt-in voluntary network, and would transmit data anonymously.
Current research involves Qualcomm, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Rhevision Technology. Qualcomm engineers specialize in miniaturization and know how to shepherd a product to market. Scientists from the Center for Nanotechnology at NASA’s Ames Research Center have experience with chemical sensing on low-powered platforms, such as the International Space Station. And technologists from Rhevision have developed an artificial nose—a piece of porous silicon that changes colors in the presence of certain molecules, which can be read spectrographically.
Read more about the Cell-All initiative on the DHS website.
