DARPA conducts largest test of SIGMA program in National Mall

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently conducted the largest-ever test of its SIGMA program, a network of lower-cost radiation detectors with spectroscopic gamma and neutron-sensing capabilities.

The sensors are networked via smartphones to provide first responders and law enforcement officials real-time awareness of potential nuclear or radiological materials used as weapons of mass destruction.

The test involved several hundred volunteers walking around the National Mall in Washington, D.C. with backpacks containing the sensors, searching for clues in a scavenger hunt to locate a geneticist who had been abducted. Both the geneticist and abduction were fictitious, however, the test was designed to address a real-world challenge of locating small quantities of radioactive materials in urban areas.

The University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) was a key performer on the SIGMA program in staging the day-long test deployment.

“The SIGMA system performed very well, and we collected and analyzed a huge amount of streaming data as we watched in real-time as participants covered a large portion of D.C.,” Vincent Tang, program manager for DARPA, said. “The data collected is already proving invaluable for further development of the system, and we’re excited that SIGMA is on track to provide U.S. cities an enhanced layer of defense against radiological and nuclear threats.”

DARPA said the next steps in the SIGMA program include broadening the tests to full-city and regional scales in 2017, and then transition the operational system to federal, state and local entities in 2018.