Patent ID: 7295308

Claim:
An air sampling sensor system for detection and identification of chemical and biological contaminants, comprising: (a) substrate feed reel; (b) a porous adsorptive substrate in the form of a tape; (c) a substrate uptake reel, said porous adsorptive substrate originating from said feed reel and being advanced from said feed reel to and received by said uptake reel; (d) a sampling area on a surface of said substrate at an area between said feed reel and said uptake reel; (e) an air intake for drawing air from the environment containing contaminants through said substrate at said sampling area; (f) multiple optical or spectrometric interrogation devices for concurrently interrogating said sampling area, wherein said multiple interrogation devices provide independent detection schemes that allow the system to self-confirm identification, and wherein a first interrogation device performs an interrogation along one axis of the substrate and a second interrogation device performs an interrogation along an orthogonal axis to the substrate; and (g) a detector for monitoring the interrogation of said sampling area.