Patent ID: 7082369

Claim:
A distributed biological hazard surveillance system comprising: a central processing assembly including means for receiving and transmitting data; and a plurality of detector assemblies disposed throughout a physical region under surveillance for capturing and identifying an airborne particle, each detector assembly including: an intake filter assembly disposed to accept a flow of air containing an airborne particle from the exterior of the detector assembly; a sampling chamber disposed to accept the flow of air and the airborne particle from the filter assembly; a fan disposed to move the air flow and the airborne particle through the intake filter assembly and across the sampling chamber; an optical stage disposed within the sampling chamber, including an electrostatic precipitator disposed to induce in the airborne particle an electrostatic charge sufficient to facilitate capture of the charged airborne particle, an optical assembly disposed to magnify the image of the captured particle, a flash optical source disposed to illuminate the optical stage with an optical pulse, a digital camera disposed to capture the magnified image of the captured particle during the optical pulse, and a synchronizing controller coupled to the electrostatic precipitator for coordinating electrostatic precipitator operation with the operation of the digital camera and flash optical source to capture the charged airborne particle in a vortex and to obtain the magnified image thereof; a processor including memory and processing means together with controlling and processing software for controlling the optical stage, for storing digital image data produced by the digital camera, for analyzing the digital image data to produce analysis data, and for processing and storing the analysis data; and a transmitter coupled to the processor for transmitting the analysis data to the central assembly.