Environmental Impact on Explosives Detection Dogs and Mitigation Strategies - Research in Physical Sciences
Abstract
Major Goals: This report covers contract No. W911NF2120124 encompassing Tasks 1-5 reflecting work over May 2021 - August 2022. The overall objective of this project was to (1) robustly characterize canine limits of detections under varying environmental conditions covering a wide range of explosive classes (smokeless powder, Composition 4 (C-4), TNT, and the chemical precursor ammonium nitrate), (2) robustly perform a chemical characterization of odor behavior from a variety of explosive classes under varying environmental conditions via instrumental analysis approaches, (3) evaluate their interactive effect in a simulated operational environmental setting and (4) systematically train and acclimatize dogs to mitigate environmental effects on performance. Accomplishments: A total of five tasks were accomplished, ranging from Task 1 acquisition and training of eight detection canines from Chiron K9. Task 2 monitored and measured canine physiological parameter and canine detection limits for four energetic sources (AN, C4, TNT and SP) while controlling for odor concentration at standard room conditions. Task 3 was geared on the chemical characterization of odor behavior uitlizing SPMEGC/MS to monitor explosive signatures across targeted environmental parameters. The purpose of Task 4 was to characterize canine detection sensitivity under a concurrent odor interactive effect in a simulated operational environment. Lastly, Task 5 implemented an acclimitization plan to mitigate performance under extreme conditions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1225588
Entities
People
- Dillon E. Huff
- Lauren Fernandez
- Nathan J. Hall
- Paola A. Tiedemann
- Sarah A. Kane
Organizations
- Texas Tech University