Replicating a canine’s sniffer
"The key to the program concept is that by simulating the entire mammalian olfactory system (from air intake to pattern recognition), revolutionary detection capabilities will be created," explained DARPA in a notice released November 28.
DARPA hopes that it can encourage research organizations with expertise in different aspects of this complex technical challenge to collaborate in teams as part of its innovative "RealNose" program.
To that end, DARPA is planning a RealNose Proposer’s Day Workshop in Arlington, VA, on January 15, 2008.
DARPA’s RealNose team, which is headed by program manager, Dr. Amy Kruse, hopes to create a nose that can smell specific substances at great distances with the same accuracy and reliability as a dog.
A Broad Agency Announcement released by DARPA early in 2007 indicates that the competing teams must develop the following four components of a man-made olfactory system that closely replicate an actual dog’s nose: odorant intake, a detector layer, signal transduction and pattern recognition.
Full proposals are due to DARPA by February 12, 2008
Registration for the all-day free workshop will close on January 8. Contact at 571-218-4338.
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