Portable Chemical Fingerprint Identification System (PCFIS)

Under the U.S. Army Forensics Advanced Research Program, the The Portable Chemical Fingerprint Identification System (P-CFIS) is being developed by U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command -Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM-CBC) enabling trace level (non- visual) detection of solid particulate contamination on surfaces and residual fingerprints. This operationally flexible non-contact, non-destructive methodology is reducing the need to transport potentially contaminated materials and provide a field forward detection capability yielding greater situational awareness of the threat environment. This uniquely developed prototype based on Raman spectroscopy allow the system to scan a one-inch square area of interest, which may be flat or uneven, target any found particles in the field of view, and automatically analyze and report detection events of threat chemicals contained within the spectral database of the system. This presentation will describe the preliminary results from evaluating the performance of the prototype systems, discussing time of analysis, particle size characteristics, analysis of heterogeneous surfaces, and future development of the systems ultimately leading to the development of the next generation of expeditionary systems for military forensic analysis, checkpoint detection, and/or sensitive site exploitation.