Been sitting in my favorites for a couple of weeks with all the intentions of taking a browse, but can’t be arsed.
	
	
		
			
		
		
	
View attachment 54914
	
		
			
		
		
	
		 
Hi Pom
Interesting paper form 2022 that covers much of the ground TSEx has traversed.  I extracted the following simply because Quantum Ventura first came to notice as a result of its Research for the US Department of Homeland Security to create a hand held device to do something similar.  As we all know it was rather keen on the idea of using AKD1000 for $US50.00 over a Nvidia GPU for $US30,000. Nothing knew but useful to understand what the thinking is around this type of device/s:
Theme C: Security and First-responders  Chemicalsensingtechnologiescanbeusedtoassessenvironmentsandidentifydangeroussituations.Accordingtoa report fromtheCenters for DiseaseControl andPrevention, inthe57,975 chemical incidents reported fromJanuary1991 to September 2009, the top five chemicals associated with chemical injury were carbon monoxide, ammonia, chlorine, hydrochloric acid, and sulfuric acid;totaling$45millionindamages annually(Anderson,2015).Proof-of-conceptsensing technologies havebeendemonstratedfor anumber of toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) and toxins, such as ammonia, hydrogen cyanide,chlorine,arsine,phosgene,etc.(Limetal.,2009;Raman etal.,2009). Toassessdangersin public spaces and in emergency situationsweneedtomonitorfor illicit andtoxicsubstances, localizeexplosivesand other hazards,and be able to assess danger in rapidly changing catastrophic environments.Participantsin the workshop agreed that there is great benefitto expanding the use ofchemicalsensing technologiesin security and firstresponse in emergency situations. Improve safety and performance of first responders.  Chemical  sensing technologies can be implemented to improve the  safety  and  performance  of first-responders in  emergencies. To  this end, goals and  objectives include  developing  technologies that rapidly  and reliably  assess the  environment to provide actionable information to first  responders.  For  example, portable chemical sensing technology could be developed to help firefighters detect the presence of  dangerous  toxins. These technologies could be wearable or be designed to go into hazardous environments ahead of first responders. In  the  same  vein, chemical sensing  technologies could  be  used  to  monitor the  health  and  safety  of first responders  themselves,  and that of the public, in dangerous conditions. Here, there is an overlap with the point-of-care theme discussed below, as technologies  developed for health monitoring could also be utilized by emergency medical services in the field to  rapidly diagnose and monitor. Importantly, any technologies  developed to be used by first-responders in the field will need  to be portable, compatible with other first-responder gear, fast, and easy to use.  Threat  monitoring.  There is a need for chemical  sensing  technologies to monitor for threat  agents and  other hazardous  conditions in public spaces  and public utilities. Goals include: improving industrial hazard monitoring, i.e., monitoring for  TICs, toxic industrial materials (TIMs), and diesel and gasoline fumes; developing  chemical sensing technologies for threat  agents, such as explosives, in urban settings; and detecting  illicit products and elements in the environment and public water sources. As a crossover with the agriculture theme, chemical sensing technologies could also be used  to detect invasive  pests at border crossings. Chemical sensing technologies may be uniquely beneficial for identifying and monitoring illicit  drug manufacturing sites and shipping containers. Dogs are currently used to “follow the trail” of  an odorant, but  current  training  methods are limited by the availability of odorants. To this end, there is an opportunity to develop non-toxic  simulants of toxic smells and  employ  virtual scent generation and  virtual reality to better train animals used for these  purposes. Eventually, future synthetic chemical sensor technologies may replace canine models.       
 Improve safety and performance of the military.  Finally, chemical sensing technologies also have the capability to improve the  safety of the military in the  field. Joong Kim (Office of Naval Research; ONR) provided a key note talk that provided  details regarding challenges in field deployment and other  considerations/constraints that  needs to be considered for field operation. Such deployment are by necessity not within the 3 year time line of interest to the NSF convergence acceleration program."
My opinion only DYOR
Fact Finder