SLI has been awarded a Phase I SBIR contract from DHS DNSO to develop a mobile app that will interface with Radioisotope Identifiers (RIIDs) and allow for the efficient creation of incident reports that can be sent to Reachback experts (e.g. spectroscopists) for additional adjudication assistance.
The risk of an adversary mounting a Radiological or Nuclear (RAD/NUC) attack on the United States remains one of the greatest threats to our Nation. The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) has identified an opportunity for exploiting rapidly emerging Smart Phone technology as one of many tools to counter this threat by giving Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) and Emergency Responders (ERs) support on their local Smart Phones or Tablets to significantly enhance their ability to properly adjudicate encounters with radiation sources. The classification of RAD/NUC threats is challenging because the terrestrial environment includes significant radiation background. This includes Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) and many legal medical and industrial sources. Providing officers and responders with up to date support through an in hand Smart Phone or Tablet will optimize their defensive response throughout the Nation. The Smart Phone support will automate and standardize communications with centralized authorities. The benefits will include minimized burden on operators and eliminating the need for a specialized laptop computer with instrumentspecific Reachback software. SLI’s proposed development of radMATE will combine all of these elements in a powerful software package to provide a user friendly Smart Phone App that is easily adaptive to individual agency requirements.