The Homeland Security Department wants to equip your cell phone with a sensor that can detect the presence of deadly chemicals.
DHS’ Science and Technology Directorate is developing an application for cell phones called Cell-All. When it senses a chemical threat, the Cell-All cell phone app will send an alert in one of two ways. If the threat is something like a small chlorine gas leak,…
This is all still in the prototype phase. DHS is funding the next step in the R&D process, a proof of principle. The department is working with four cell phone manufacturers: Qualcomm, LG, Apple and Samsung. Cell-All program manager Stephen Dennis says he hopes to have 40 prototypes in a year or so. The first one will sniff out carbon monoxide and fire.
One of the elements of the prototype is an artificial nose, developed by a company called Rhevision. It’s a piece of porous silicon that changes color in the presence of certain molecules.
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