Autonomous Detection Systems (ADS), also called biohazard detection systems or autonomous pathogen detection systems, are designed to monitor air or water in an environment and to detect the presence of airborne or waterborne chemicals, toxins, pathogens, or other biological agents capable of causing human illness or death. These systems monitor air or water continuously and send real-time alerts to appropriate authorities in the event of an act of bioterrorism or biological warfare.
In the United States, an ADS system (BDS) was developed for the U.S. Postal Service following the 2001 anthrax attacks. The first detection systems in U.S. postal services were installed in 2006. To counter such problems in the future, the United States federal government set up a program called BioWatch, which operates in more than 21 cities in the US.
In Canada, an autonomous pathogen detection system was developed by a biotechnology company called Kraken Sense for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The BioWatch program is funded and supervised by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The BioWatch program has three main components: sampling, analysis, and response. Each of these components is handled by three different agencies. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) handles the sampling component: the sensors that collect airborne particles. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) coordinates the analysis and laboratory testing of the samples. Local authorities are responsible for the public health response to positive findings. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is designated as the lead agency for the law enforcement response if a bioterrorism event is detected. (Shea and Lister, 2003)
Using the KRAKEN autonomous qPCR device, Kraken Sense monitored airport wastewater for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as Omicron, and Monkeypox to act as an early warning system for infectious diseases entering the country. This program was funded in part by the National Research Council Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP). [1]
APDS monitors air and water for the three types of biological threat agents: bacteria, viruses, and toxins. The autonomous detection system is capable of (1) rapidly processing and accurately analyzing aerosol or water samples with a high level of confidence; (2) automating and integrating the major system functions into the detector, including sample collection, preparation, analysis, and analytical results reporting; (3) operating in its intended indoor and outdoor environments; and (4) disseminating and archiving analysis results and system operational data via the C3 network, known as the BioWatch Gen-3 Operations Support Service.
APDS operates continuously; the system can detect low concentrations of bioagents that might go undetected by a system that is triggered only when the overall number of particles in the air is high. APDS collects samples, prepares them for analysis, and tests for multiple biological agents. This automation reduces the cost and staffing that would be required to manually analyze samples.
As APDS collects air or water samples, it first runs them through an immunoassay detector. If that detector returns a positive result, APDS performs a second assay based on nucleic-acid amplification and detection. Having two different assay systems increases system reliability and minimizes the possibility of false positives.
The immunoassay detector incorporates liquid arrays, a multiplexed assay that uses small-diameter polystyrene beads (microbeads) coated with thousands of antibodies. Each microbead is colored with a unique combination of red- and orange-emitting dyes. The number of agents that can be detected in a sample is limited only by the number of colored bead sets. When the sample is exposed to the beads, a bioagent, if present, binds to the bead with the appropriate antibody. A second fluorescently labeled antibody is then added to the sample, resulting in a highly fluorescent target for flow analysis. Preparing the sample and performing this first analysis takes less than 30 minutes.
Nucleic acid assays require amplification of one or more target sequences of nucleic acid. Short strands of single-stranded DNA are synthesized in known sequences and attached to spots in the array in a predetermined way [2] Detection of these spots that contain hybridized target DNA allows one to the sequence of DNA in the unknown target. RNA readily hybridizes to form double-stranded structures to its complementary sequence (A-T, C-G, G-C, U-A). Thus, arrays of single-stranded DNA can be used to detect RNA via hybridization.
TABLE 1.1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Prioritized List of Biological Threat Agentsa
| Disease (Organism) | Agent Typeb |
| Category Ac | |
| Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) | B |
| Botulism (Clostridium botulinum toxin) | T |
| Plague (Yersinia pestis) | B |
| Smallpox (variola major) | V |
| Tularemia (Francisella tularensis) | B |
| Viral hemorrhagic fevers (filoviruses—e.g., Ebola and Marburg—and arenaviruses—e.g., Lassa and Machupo) | V |
| Category Bd | |
| Brucellosis (Brucella species) | B |
| Epsilon toxin (from Clostridium perfringens) | T |
| Food safety threats (e.g., Salmonella species, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Shigella) | B |
| Glanders (Burkholderia mallei) | B |
| Melioidosis (Burkholderia pseudomallei) | B |
| Psittacosis (Chlamydia psittaci) | B |
| Q fever (Coxiella burnetii) | B |
| Ricin toxin (from Ricinus communis—castor beans) | T |
| Staphylococcal enterotoxin B | T |
| Typhus fever (Rickettsia prowazekii) | B |
| Viral encephalitis (alphaviruses such as Venezuelan equine encephalitis, eastern equine encephalitis, western equine encephalitis) | V |
| Water safety threats (e.g., Vibrio cholerae, Cryptosporidium parvum) | B |
| Category Ce | |
| Emerging infectious diseases such as Nipah virus and hantavirus | V |
| a Available at http://www.cdc.gov. Accessed August 2003. b B = bacterium; V = virus; T = toxin. c Category A includes the highest priority agents that pose a risk to national security because they can be easily disseminated or transmitted from person to person; result in high mortality rates and have the potential for major public health impact; might cause public panic and social disruption; and require special action for public health preparedness. d Category B agents are the second highest priority and include those that are moderately easy to disseminate; result in moderate morbidity rates and low mortality rates; and require specific enhancements of CDC's diagnostic capacity and enhanced disease surveillance. e Category C agents are the third highest priority and include emerging pathogens that could be engineered for mass dissemination in the future because of availability; ease of production and dissemination; and potential for high morbidity and mortality rates and major health impact. | |
Research Internationals sells standalone and portable systems for use in mailrooms, called ASAP II. ASAP II gives real time detection of bio-warfare agents, chemical agents and toxic industrial chemicals, explosives in particulate and vapor form and nuclear materials. The system can be customised according to the need of the mailroom.
ASAP II is an automated chemical, biological and nuclear detection and identification system. The system can detect and identify from four (RAPTOR module) to eight (BioHawk module) bio-agents in real time. Periodically or on demand, a concentrated sample is sent to the modules and within fifteen minutes these systems will identify the presence of any bioagents and notify the operator if a hazardous agent is detected.
The systems need to be in a negative pressure room on a downward draft table. An air sampling module within the systems draws air into the downward draft table for analysis. Sampling is continuous until the batch of mail is complete, which may take a few minutes, hours or days. The systems are able to handle thousands of pieces of mail per hour. [3]
The system can be adapted for situations where environmental or clinical pathogens require monitoring. For example, APDS could test for mold or fungal spores in buildings or for the airborne spread of contagious materials in hospitals. It also could identify disease outbreaks in livestock transport centers or feedlots. In water, APDS can detect pathogens in wastewater, agricultural irrigation lines, food processors, fish farms, and beaches.
Research International produces and sells the TacBio particle detection system. The system samples the air continuously and monitors for aerosol particle or bio-particle levels
It does not identify the type of bio-particle detected but will notify the mailroom attendant if either excess particles or bio-particles are present. This is an early warning system that gives the mailroom supervisor enough time to notice a potential threat and to test for biological agents or airborne threats before mail is delivered to a recipient.
ChemPRO 100 Chemical Detection System is a handheld chemical detector for field detection and classification of Chemical Warfare Agents. If mail arrives with an unidentified substance, this hand held detector can be used to immediately identify the chemical.
Hardened Mobile Trace Explosive Particle tests for a wide range of explosives and narcotics in seconds. The system will identify explosives in packages or envelopes that are often undetectable by x-ray machines. This handheld detector expands the range of target explosives you can identify in a single sample for faster more comprehensive screening. As noted, this system also detects a wide range of narcotics. The system tests for explosives and narcotics simultaneously in a single sample, for faster, more comprehensive screening. [3]
Kraken Sense produces the KRAKEN autonomous pathogen detection system. The device continuously samples any water source in real-time, delivering results in as low as 60 minutes to alert of potential contamination. If contamination is detected in agricultural water sources or food processors, for example, operators can remove the compromised batch before the product enters the market, preventing foodborne illness. Furthermore, using the KRAKEN in wastewater can act as a biosurveillance system that allows more time for public health authorities to prepare for a possible infectious disease outbreak. [4]
High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), formerly referred to as high-pressure liquid chromatography, is a technique in analytical chemistry used to separate, identify, and quantify each component in a mixture. It relies on pumps to pass a pressurized liquid solvent containing the sample mixture through a column filled with a solid adsorbent material. Each component in the sample interacts slightly differently with the adsorbent material, causing different flow rates for the different components and leading to the separation of the components as they flow out of the column.
A biosensor is an analytical device, used for the detection of a chemical substance, that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector. The sensitive biological element, e.g. tissue, microorganisms, organelles, cell receptors, enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids, etc., is a biologically derived material or biomimetic component that interacts with, binds with, or recognizes the analyte under study. The biologically sensitive elements can also be created by biological engineering. The transducer or the detector element, which transforms one signal into another one, works in a physicochemical way: optical, piezoelectric, electrochemical, electrochemiluminescence etc., resulting from the interaction of the analyte with the biological element, to easily measure and quantify. The biosensor reader device connects with the associated electronics or signal processors that are primarily responsible for the display of the results in a user-friendly way. This sometimes accounts for the most expensive part of the sensor device, however it is possible to generate a user friendly display that includes transducer and sensitive element. The readers are usually custom-designed and manufactured to suit the different working principles of biosensors.
An assay is an investigative (analytic) procedure in laboratory medicine, mining, pharmacology, environmental biology and molecular biology for qualitatively assessing or quantitatively measuring the presence, amount, or functional activity of a target entity. The measured entity is often called the analyte, the measurand, or the target of the assay. The analyte can be a drug, biochemical substance, chemical element or compound, or cell in an organism or organic sample. An assay usually aims to measure an analyte's intensive property and express it in the relevant measurement unit.
Flow cytometry (FC) is a technique used to detect and measure physical and chemical characteristics of a population of cells or particles.
Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) is an analytical method that combines the features of gas-chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify different substances within a test sample. Applications of GC–MS include drug detection, fire investigation, environmental analysis, explosives investigation, food and flavor analysis, and identification of unknown samples, including that of material samples obtained from planet Mars during probe missions as early as the 1970s. GC–MS can also be used in airport security to detect substances in luggage or on human beings. Additionally, it can identify trace elements in materials that were previously thought to have disintegrated beyond identification. Like liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, it allows analysis and detection even of tiny amounts of a substance.
In molecular biology, biochips are engineered substrates that can host large numbers of simultaneous biochemical reactions. One of the goals of biochip technology is to efficiently screen large numbers of biological analytes, with potential applications ranging from disease diagnosis to detection of bioterrorism agents. For example, digital microfluidic biochips are under investigation for applications in biomedical fields. In a digital microfluidic biochip, a group of (adjacent) cells in the microfluidic array can be configured to work as storage, functional operations, as well as for transporting fluid droplets dynamically.
Plate readers, also known as microplate readers or microplate photometers, are instruments which are used to detect biological, chemical or physical events of samples in microtiter plates. They are widely used in research, drug discovery, bioassay validation, quality control and manufacturing processes in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry and academic organizations. Sample reactions can be assayed in 1-1536 well format microtiter plates. The most common microplate format used in academic research laboratories or clinical diagnostic laboratories is 96-well with a typical reaction volume between 100 and 200 µL per well. Higher density microplates are typically used for screening applications, when throughput and assay cost per sample become critical parameters, with a typical assay volume between 5 and 50 µL per well. Common detection modes for microplate assays are absorbance, fluorescence intensity, luminescence, time-resolved fluorescence, and fluorescence polarization.
Photoacoustic spectroscopy is the measurement of the effect of absorbed electromagnetic energy on matter by means of acoustic detection. The discovery of the photoacoustic effect dates to 1880 when Alexander Graham Bell showed that thin discs emitted sound when exposed to a beam of sunlight that was rapidly interrupted with a rotating slotted disk. The absorbed energy from the light causes local heating, generating a thermal expansion which creates a pressure wave or sound. Later Bell showed that materials exposed to the non-visible portions of the solar spectrum can also produce sounds.
A particle counter is used for monitoring and diagnosing particle contamination within specific clean media, including air, water and chemicals. Particle counters are used in a variety of applications in support of clean manufacturing practices, industries include: electronic components and assemblies, pharmaceutical drug products and medical devices, and industrial technologies such as oil and gas.
The Fido explosives detector is a battery-powered, handheld sensory device that uses amplifying fluorescent polymer (AFP) materials to detect trace levels of high explosives like trinitrotoluene (TNT). It was developed by Nomadics, a subsidiary of ICX Technologies, in the early 2000s as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Dog's Nose program. The Fido explosives detector is considered the first artificial nose capable of detecting landmines in the real world. The device was named after its ability to detect explosive vapors at concentrations of parts per quadrillion, which is comparable to the sensitivity of a bomb-sniffing dog’s nose, i.e. the historical “gold standard” for finding concealed explosives.
A gas detector is a device that detects the presence of gases in an area, often as part of a safety system. A gas detector can sound an alarm to operators in the area where the leak is occurring, giving them the opportunity to leave. This type of device is important because there are many gases that can be harmful to organic life, such as humans or animals.
Materials MASINT is one of the six major disciplines generally accepted to make up the field of Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT), with due regard that the MASINT subdisciplines may overlap, and MASINT, in turn, is complementary to more traditional intelligence collection and analysis disciplines such as SIGINT and IMINT. MASINT encompasses intelligence gathering activities that bring together disparate elements that do not fit within the definitions of Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Imagery Intelligence (IMINT), or Human Intelligence (HUMINT).
Nuclear MASINT is one of the six major subdisciplines generally accepted to make up Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT), which covers measurement and characterization of information derived from nuclear radiation and other physical phenomena associated with nuclear weapons, reactors, processes, materials, devices, and facilities. Nuclear monitoring can be done remotely or during onsite inspections of nuclear facilities. Data exploitation results in characterization of nuclear weapons, reactors, and materials. A number of systems detect and monitor the world for nuclear explosions, as well as nuclear materials production.
Bio-MEMS is an abbreviation for biomedical microelectromechanical systems. Bio-MEMS have considerable overlap, and is sometimes considered synonymous, with lab-on-a-chip (LOC) and micro total analysis systems (μTAS). Bio-MEMS is typically more focused on mechanical parts and microfabrication technologies made suitable for biological applications. On the other hand, lab-on-a-chip is concerned with miniaturization and integration of laboratory processes and experiments into single chips. In this definition, lab-on-a-chip devices do not strictly have biological applications, although most do or are amenable to be adapted for biological purposes. Similarly, micro total analysis systems may not have biological applications in mind, and are usually dedicated to chemical analysis. A broad definition for bio-MEMS can be used to refer to the science and technology of operating at the microscale for biological and biomedical applications, which may or may not include any electronic or mechanical functions. The interdisciplinary nature of bio-MEMS combines material sciences, clinical sciences, medicine, surgery, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, optical engineering, chemical engineering, and biomedical engineering. Some of its major applications include genomics, proteomics, molecular diagnostics, point-of-care diagnostics, tissue engineering, single cell analysis and implantable microdevices.
The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) is the United States's principal research and development resource for non-medical chemical and biological (CB) defense. As a critical national asset in the CB defense community, ECBC supports all phases of the acquisition life-cycle ― from basic and applied research through technology development, engineering design, equipment evaluation, product support, sustainment, field operations and demilitarization ― to address its customers’ unique requirements.
Suspension array technology is a high throughput, large-scale, and multiplexed screening platform used in molecular biology. SAT has been widely applied to genomic and proteomic research, such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping, genetic disease screening, gene expression profiling, screening drug discovery and clinical diagnosis. SAT uses microsphere beads to prepare arrays. SAT allows for the simultaneous testing of multiple gene variants through the use of these microsphere beads as each type of microsphere bead has a unique identification based on variations in optical properties, most common is fluorescent colour. As each colour and intensity of colour has a unique wavelength, beads can easily be differentiated based on their wavelength intensity. Microspheres are readily suspendable in solution and exhibit favorable kinetics during an assay. Similar to flat microarrays, an appropriate receptor molecule, such as DNA oligonucleotide probes, antibodies, or other proteins, attach themselves to the differently labeled microspheres. This produces thousands of microsphere array elements. Probe-target hybridization is usually detected by optically labeled targets, which determines the relative abundance of each target in the sample.
Surround optical-fiber immunoassay (SOFIA) is an ultrasensitive, in vitro diagnostic platform incorporating a surround optical-fiber assembly that captures fluorescence emissions from an entire sample. The technology's defining characteristics are its extremely high limit of detection, sensitivity, and dynamic range. SOFIA's sensitivity is measured at the attogram level (10−18 g), making it about one billion times more sensitive than conventional diagnostic techniques. Based on its enhanced dynamic range, SOFIA is able to discriminate levels of analyte in a sample over 10 orders of magnitude, facilitating accurate titering.
Cell CANARY is a recent technology that uses genetically engineered B cells to identify pathogens. Existing pathogen detection technologies include the Integrated Biological Detection System and the Joint Chemical Agent Detector.
Paper-based biosensors are a subset of paper-based microfluidics used to detect the presence of pathogens in water. Paper-based detection devices have been touted for their low cost, portability and ease of use. Its portability in particular makes it an good candidate for point-of-care testing. However, there are also limitations to these assays, and scientists are continually working to improve accuracy, sensitivity, and ability to test for multiple contaminants at the same time.
Workplace exposure monitoring is the monitoring of substances in a workplace that are chemical or biological hazards. It is performed in the context of workplace exposure assessment and risk assessment. Exposure monitoring analyzes hazardous substances in the air or on surfaces of a workplace, and is complementary to biomonitoring, which instead analyzes toxicants or their effects within workers.