Biodetection Battelle shows smart technology for biodefense and hazard avoidance

Battelle last week announced production of the next generation chemical and biological hazard sensor system, which the company says operates at a fraction of the cost of current technologies.

Battelle is offering the technology, known as the Resource Effective BioIdentification System (REBS), for U.S. Department of Defense, homeland security, and other federal biodefense initiatives, and to commercial industries for contaminant detection, for instance, where sterile production operations must be maintained.

REBS is a battery-powered system capable of autonomous and continuous use with operating costs of less than $1 per day per unit (the company notes that current system costs that can range from $500 - $3,000 per day) and assay costs of $0.04 per sample (compared to current systems at over $100 per sample). These cost savings are the result of Battelle’s new “smart technology” which eliminates the need for perishable reagents. Instead, REBS relies on a combination of patented aerosol collection and optical spectroscopy to detect hundreds of threats ranging from bacteria, viruses and toxins to aerosolized chemicals, and even mixed threats.

“Our warfighters, first responders, security personnel, and many in industry, need an affordable, reliable, high tech detection system capable of identifying new biological and chemical materials quickly, no matter the environment. REBS is that solution. Its elegant, automated design eliminates the need for constant maintenance and support, saving an estimated $56 million for every 1,000 units,” said Matthew Shaw, vice president and general manager of the CBRNE Defense business unit of Battelle.

“Unlike current systems, with REBS there is no need to constantly purchase and replenish the system with expensive, messy chemistries and consumables to keep their identification systems running. REBS can run continuously, without operator intervention, for weeks at a time…that’s like having a car that drives me 90 miles to work and back, day in and day out, without the need to fill it with gas for weeks at a time.”

REBS has been demonstrated in several government and independent trials, including operational testing in the Boston subway and, separately, successful developmental testing with “live” biological agents, such as anthrax spores, in 2013.

The company says that by eliminating the need for laboratory analysis of field-collected samples, REBS design reduces the amount of time required to identify agents from hours or days, on average, to as little as fifteen minutes.

The system also preserves samples for subsequent confirmation, is network-ready, and is able to look for new or emerging threat materials within twenty-four hours of their identification. Samples are automatically archived.

REBS can be installed in a fixed site or used in mobile applications; as a single device or as an array of hundreds of systems configured into a network to a single command post. The system can be operated, monitored, and updated via the Internet.