National Guard Gets New Wireless Chemical/Radiation Sensors

The United States National Guard has purchased and received delivery of custom configured RAE Systems' AreaRAE, wireless, Rapid Deployment Kits (RDKs) to equip all 55 Civil Support Teams (CSTs) with portable toxic gas and radiation detection equipment. According to RAE Systems, the key to the selection was the ability for the system to interoperate, provide mutual aid, as well as interface to existing AreaRAE systems already in use by civilian first responders.

The AreaRAE RDK is designed to be quickly configured and deployed in any response scenario and can integrate a wide range of detection equipment including RAE Systems' portable monitors and third-party devices, all operating wirelessly and instantly providing data for incident commanders through a single real-time interface.

"We see on-going development of wireless sensor networks to provide life-critical and time-critical information," said Robert Chen, chief executive officer for RAE Systems. "The selection by the National Guard CSTs adds to the more than 600 AreaRAE networks and over 2,500 monitors that are already deployed with our civilian first responder and industrial customers."

There are currently 55 CST units deployed across the United States and U.S. territories on standby seven days a week, 24 hours a day, that are equipped to respond within 90 minutes of a suspected Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) incident. Their mission is to assess the likelihood of a suspected WMD attack, advise civilian responders on appropriate actions through on-site testing and expert consultation, and facilitate the arrival of additional state and federal resources. CSTs have provided support to civil authorities in every major event since 1999 including Hurricane Katrina, Super Bowls, the Columbia Shuttle recovery and Olympic events.

The AreaRAE RDK model selected by the Guard consists of four stainless steel, wireless, AreaRAE monitors. All four monitors include GPS receivers, sensors for oxygen level, lower explosive limit and RAE Systems' patented photoionization detector (PID) for the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pepper spray and most chemical warfare agents. Two of the AreaRAE monitors in the RDK are configured with two specific toxic gas sensors that can be field selected from an assorted list of toxic sensors, while the other two AreaRAE monitors in the CST Detector Kit include RAE Systems quick-responding cesium-iodide gamma radiation sensor that warns of the presence of any dangerous gamma-emitting radioactive material.

The CST version of each AreaRAE Host Control Unit also includes the HazRAE Chemical/Biological/Radiological and WMD Decision Support software application. HazRAE's unique patent-pending capabilities provide the CST Command, Operations, Medical and Survey Sections with real-time answers ranging from traditional hazardous materials incident response to terrorist-related incidents.