Program SAFEGUARD
Program SAFEGUARD is a multi-agency research project, pursued by groups from both the U.S. Army and U.S. EPA Region VII. The purpose of the project is to develop, test, and validate a sensor package capable of providing unique data concerning chemical emissions from various sources.
The Army is the executive agent of Program SAFEGUARD and hopes SAFEGUARD technology will provide defense planners with critical information in battlefield scenarios, bomb damage assessment roles, and the monitoring of facilities capable of producing weapons of mass destruction (in this case, primarily chemical weapons.) The EPA views SAFEGUARD technology as a means to provide similar information concerning chemical releases that may result from normal industrial activities and accidents, train derailments, and even domestic terrorism. It is hoped that SAFEGUARD will ultimately provide the technological basis for a national emergency response capability useful to many agencies tasked with environmental protection including the DOD, EPA, and USCG.
In a nutshell, SAFEGUARD technology provides an overhead picture of chemical emissions below - a map, if you will, with an image of chemical clouds and plumes superimposed on the otherwise normal ground features. The two tasks involved, imaging plumes and measuring airborne chemicals, have both become almost routine within the research world and even begun to creep into commercial use. SAFEGUARD is unique in that it provides both capabilities in one sensor package.
AeroSurvey has been involved in Program SAFEGUARD since 1996. We were originally brought in to provide high-quality active FT-IR measurements - the basis for the ground truth data set collected during field experiments. However, AeroSurvey's role has expanded to include many additional tasks that have become important as the program has advanced. Our many responsibilities within SAFEGUARD now involve the collection of spectral data in the laboratory as well as in the field, instrumentation beyond active FT-IR, experimental equipment design and production and, of course, applied infrared spectroscopy. The common thread found in all of our roles is the pursuit of tighter experimental designs through additional and better reference data during each successive SAFEGUARD field experiment.
We are proud of our contributions to Program SAFEGUARD over the years and would like to show you some of the highlights from our work. We'll also include a little information about parts of the project that extend beyond AeroSurvey's involvement. (Note: I'm still working on some of the graphics for the following pages so bear with me - CTC.) Follow the links below as your interest and patience allow:
The SAFEGUARD sensor suite concept
Active FT-IR ground-truth measurements