DARPA wants to improve chemical and biological weapons detection by using infrared hyperspectral imaging.
Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) systems have been used for chemical weapons detection, Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) and other defense missions. Those systems can provide "sensitive and specific detections of targets," they are usually large and expensive, and do not operate in real time, according to DARPA's research solicitation. Those systems that do operate in real time do so by trading off other capabilities, such as the number of spectral bands that are detectable, DARPA added.
Resource: Read the DARPA research proposal
So, DARPA wants a mobile, lightweight HSI system that weighs less than five pounds, can operate for more than four hours, and costs less than $50,000 each. It should have "real-time automated target signature detection, performed within the system to dramatically reduce data bandwidth, downlink transmission bandwidth requirements, and post-processing."
