DHS Wants Cell Phones to Detect Chemical, Radioactive Material

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://public.cq.com/docs/hs/hsnews110-000002524221.html

DHS Wants Cell Phones to Detect Chemical, Radioactive Material
By Rob Margetta, CQ Staff

American cell phones can already check e-mail, surf the Internet and store
music, but they could have a new set of features in coming years: the
Department of Homeland Security wants them to sense biological, chemical and
radioactive material.

Putting hazardous material sensors in commercial cell phones has been
discussed in scientific circles for years, according to researchers in the
field. More recently, the idea gained support among government agencies, and
DHS said publicly in May that it wants businesses to start coming up with
proposals.

At the 2007 DHS Science and Technology Stakeholders Conference, S&T Director
of Innovation Roger McGinnis outlined how the system could work. Cell phone
sensors would continually test the air for harmful compounds and digitally
relay any information to a central monitoring system if they find anything
amiss.

"It's a great way to get millions of detectors out there," McGinnis said.

Like the built-in GPS function many cell phones now offer, customers would
have the option of turning the sensors off, McGinnis said.

S&T spokesman Christopher Kelly said the theoretical system's strength would
lie in the sheer number of sensors. The cell phone sensors might be less
sophisticated than highly advanced ones some developers are fitting into
hand-held models, but they would make up for it in what Kelly called
"ubiquitous detection."

If just one went off, it could be ruled a false positive, he said. But if
several detected a harmful compound, emergency workers would know there was
a problem, triangulate the phones' location react to the situation. 

"Cell phones that are now made have GPS technology," Kelly said. "And, if
you have a cell phone equipped with that, it can transmit the time and place
of an event."

...

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