TY - JOUR A2 - Culea, Eugen AU - Johnson, J. Bruce AU - Allen, Susan D. AU - Merten, Jonathan AU - Johnson, Lewis AU - Pinkham, Daniel AU - Reeve, Scott W. PY - 2014 DA - 2014/08/07 TI - Standoff Methods for the Detection of Threat Agents: A Review of Several Promising Laser-Based Techniques SP - 613435 VL - 2014 AB - Detection of explosives, explosive precursors, or other threat agents presents a number of technological challenges for optical sensing methods. Certainly detecting trace levels of threat agents against a complex background is chief among these challenges; however, the related issues of multiple target distances (from standoff to proximity) and sampling time scales (from passive mines to rapid rate of march convoy protection) for different applications make it unlikely that a single technique will be ideal for all sensing situations. A number of methods for spanning the range of optical sensor technologies exist which, when integrated, could produce a fused sensor system possessing a high level of sensitivity to threat agents and a moderate standoff real-time capability appropriate for portal screening of personnel or vehicles. In this work, we focus on several promising, and potentially synergistic, laser-based methods for sensing threat agents. For each method, we have briefly outlined the technique and report on the current level of capability. SN - 2314-4920 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/613435 DO - 10.1155/2014/613435 JF - Journal of Spectroscopy PB - Hindawi Publishing Corporation KW - ER -