Chemical sensor testbed being deployed at World Trade Center Transportation Hub

A testbed will be established in the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York City for chemical detection sensors under an agreement announced between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Tuesday.

The agreement outlines the design, implementation, operation, and maintenance of a testbed for chemical detection sensors that are capable of identifying hazardous gases in the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which is also known as Oculus.

“The goal is to achieve independent detection by at least two different types of sensors in the event of an intentional release of a chemical dangerous to the public and employees in the Oculus,” Don Bansleben, the program manager DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate’s Chemical and Biological Defense Division, said. “The results from this testbed could be integrated into the Port Authority’s operational and emergency plans to enhance security and public safety measures.”

Chemical attacks on public transportation systems predate 9/11. A terrorist group known as Aum Shinrikyo killed 11 people in a Japanese metro station in 1995 with a homemade sarin nerve gas. Chemical weapons were more recently deployed during the Syrian conflict in April.

Despite the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty’s prohibition on the production or sale of chemical weapons, Bansleben said there’s concern that people can make them at home and easily carry them into busy transportation hubs.

“To save lives, the Port Authority is interested in protecting this very large space,” Bansleben said.

Argonne National Laboratory has been contracted to install the chemical sensors in Oculus. Sensors that use varying physical detection techniques — point sensors that register agents close to them and standoff sensors that cover large areas— will be used to independently confirm if a chemical agent is present in a particular area.

“For example, one of these sensors may be sending an infrared beam across a large space, and if the beam passes through a cloud of hazardous material, it may absorb the energy,” Bansleben said. “Every molecule has a fingerprint in the infrared region and will absorb energies at different frequencies; if there is a match, security would be alerted.”

Launched in September, the project is expected to be completed within a 12-month timeline. After initial implementation, Argonne National Lab will spend an additional year training Port Authority staff.