The detection of evaporating hazardous material released from moving sources using a gas sensor network

Sensor information resulting from distributed locations and/or a multitude of instruments and heterogeneous sensors can increase the reliability of safety and security applications. A gas-sensing platform was developed, communicating via a wireless sensor network based on IEEE 802.15.4 and/or Ethernet. Data from this network are aggregated via a central server feeding its information via TCP/IP into subsequent data fusion software. The usually limited spatio-temporal resolution of chemical sensors can be compensated by space-time sensor data fusion. Sensor nodes have been equipped with metal oxide gas sensors in order to identify hazardous materials [1]. A number of these nodes have then been placed alongside a corridor people had to pass to enter a restricted area. The data from the chemical sensors were fused with tracking data from laser range scanners and video systems. It has been shown that it was possible to allocate a chemical contamination of one individual within a group of moving people and discriminate between various fire accelerating fuels and solvents. This was successfully demonstrated outside the laboratory with a test corridor build in a tent during a military tech-demo in Eckernförde, Germany.