Two laboratories under the Department of Homeland Security’s science and technology directorate are teaming up to test portable explosives trace detectors. Researchers from the Transportation Security Laboratory validated gaps with the detectors and have spoken with vendors and customers to reinforce the devices’ functionality, DHS said Thursday.
In a separate demonstration, a team from the National Urban Security Technology Laboratory partnered with first responders to evaluate and compare five handheld ETDs in various outdoor and indoor scenarios based on standards provided by an unnamed focus group. NUSTL will analyze the collected data from the tests to create an assessment report.
“The combined expertise of NUSTL and TSL provided valuable insight to the first responders about the real functionality and detection capabilities of a number of handheld trace explosive detection equipment,†said Claudia Dengler, a principal investigator at TSL.
