The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its Technology Directorate division want to help create 40 prototypes, by the end of this year, of cell phones that can detect toxic chemicals in the air. Upon receiving an indication of a potentially toxic gas, the cell phone will alert the user and will send an anonymous notification to the local authorities.
The new application should also handle false positives by cross referencing indications from other cell phones. For example, suppose a poisonous gas was released at a train station. The service would look for correlated reports across a number of devices in a particular location. This capability will allow law enforcement and first responders to pinpoint the exact location of the incident.
Qualcomm, NASA, and Rhevision Technology are teaming up to work on the next step of the testing phase: proof of principle. Also, Homeland Security’s Science and Technology arm is actively engaging Qualcomm, LG, Apple, and Samsung — with research and development agreements to hopefully use your phone as the digital sniffer of the future.
What an excellent idea, cell phones that can detect toxic chemicals in the air. I have checked into many devices of a similar nature and the issues have always been how to handle false positives. This process of cross referencing indications from other cell phones seems to be a step in the right direction. I am interested to stay informed as the technology is developed.