Our Blacklight chemical detection unit is an innovative multi-species real time gas detector that can be used in a wide variety of environments and operational modes, for chemical surveillance, incident response, pre-event profiling and chemical cartography.
Blacklight employs a unique implementation of ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy to offer significant improvements in chemical detection over current systems. Cutting edge sensing technologies, signal processing and air sampling techniques are combined to provide superior detection performance. The solution can detect a board range of chemicals simultaneously in real-time down to single figure parts-per-billion and, due to the high volume sampling rate, can do this whilst on the move. The detector can be deployed in hand-carried, deployable and vehicle mounted configurations, with further backpack variants currently under development.
We have designed the Blacklight system to be completely flexible ensuring that it can be tailored to meet your requirements. The detection library is configurable and extensible and is currently able to detect a range of Chemical Warfare Agents (CWAs), Toxic Industrial Chemicals (TICs), explosives, narcotics, pollutants and other Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs).
Utilising a layered user interface the sensor output can be presented to an array of operators from first responders, specialist search teams to field analysts. The unit is also fitted with GPS so that geo-referenced chemical data can be presented on Thales’ real-time incident response mission software (Environmental Mission System) and post-processed off-line to create chemical concentration maps.
Off-board communications support allows the sensor to be deployed for extended periods with remote monitoring and reporting.
Key Benefits
  • Rapid incident response – detecting airborne chemical threats, establishing cordon boundaries and informing command decisions.
  • Reducing search times – rapid chemical survey of a geographical area, urban environment or compound
  • Covert chemical surveillance – detecting trace levels of raw products and by-products from illicit manufacturing processes.
  • Continuous real-time detection of a wide range of chemicals including TIC’s, pollutants, CWA’s, narcotics, explosives and other VOC’s
  • Simultaneous multi-species detection, identification and quantification at very low concentrations (low ppb)
  • High volume sampling rates (>100 litres/min) make the units ideal for static, portable and ‘on the move’ monitoring where high volumes of air can be analysed in real time.