MITRE's R&D in Nanosensors

The Nanosystems Group's nanosensor R&D efforts focus on developing nano-enabled sensors for chemical and biological detection. We conduct reviews and evaluations of the state-of-art in sensor systems, as well as experimental work at MITRE's laboratory facilities. Our R&D activities include innovative nano-enabled sensing, sensor prototyping and integration, and system performance testing and evaluation.

Nano-enabled sensors are sensory systems that employ elements at the nanometer scale to convey information about the occurrence of a chemical, biological, or physical event. For chemical and biological detection, the most important advantages of nano-enabled sensors are they make possible much smaller devices and have high sensitivity because they can recognize agents at the molecular level. One example in the natural world is sensitive biological noses, such as a dog's, that can sense minute amounts of nano-sized molecules. This suggests that nano-enabled sensors can be developed for nose-like sensing to detect trace volatile chemicals and airborne biological agents. Another potential application for such devices is deciphering the nanostructure of biomolecules like DNA sequences.

Our capabilities in nanosensors can be categorized into the following areas:

• Novel nanostructured material development for chemical and biological sensing
• Design and development of nanodevices for chemical and biological sensing
• Sensor detection and classification algorithm development
• Handheld or portable nose-like sensor system integration
• Sensor system testing and evaluation

This research is conducted by MITRE senior scientists and student researchers through the Nanosystems Group Student Program.