Peer-Reviewed Publications
The TADD® Containment System has been tested by numerous government agencies and academic institutions. Here, we present the peer-reviewed manuscripts studying the TADD® that SciK9® Scientists were involved in. Any questions? Please feel free to ask in the chat or via email.
FLORIDA international uniVERSITY (FIU)
Evaluation of non-detonable canine training aids for explosives by headspace analysis and canine testing
by Lauryn E. DeGreeff, Christopher K. Katilie, Caitlin E. Sharpes, Michele N. Maughan, Jenna D. Gadberry, Patrick L. Nolan, Nathaniel Hall, Barry Magner, Eric M. Best, Emma
Calabrese, Fantasia Whaley, Mark Hammond, Patricia E. Buckley
Abstract:
There is a need for non-detonable training aids to enable training of canines when access to true material is limited. A disadvantage of non-detonable training aids is the lack of third-party independent verification and validation to certify the efficacy of the aid to yield a detection capability to true material. The goal of this research is to guide the development of a pipeline for
the evaluation of commercial or novel training aids by using both analytical analysis as well as canine olfactory testing. Headspace analysis was carried out for nitroaromatic explosive training aids, RDX and PETN, as well as peroxide explosives, HMTD and TATP. Batch-to-batch reproducibility and usage lifetime mimicking operational usage, were also assessed for peroxide
explosive aids. As a result of the analytical analysis, various issues were identified such as limitations of explosive component detection, presence of extraneous odors, dynamic headspaces, and both inter- and intra- batch variability. A single TATP training aid was selected to be tested in a proof-of-concept canine assessment which compared canines trained using true material in their ability to detect the training aid in question and a set of canines trained solely with a commercial training aid in their ability to detect true material. It took nearly 21 trials of exposures to true TATP before all canines trained with the non-detonable training aid were able to detect the true TATP with a 100% detection rate, highlighting the importance of analytical characterization of nondetonable training aids paired with canine validation studies
FLORIDA international uniVERSITY (FIU)
Evaluation of canine training aids containment for homemade explosive and components by headspace analysis and canine testing
by Christopher J. Katilie BS, Lauryn E. DeGreeff PhD, Caitlin E. Sharpes MS, Eric M. Best PhD, Patricia E. Buckley PhD, Jenna D. Gadberry BS, Michele N. Maughan PhD
Abstract:
While canines are most commonly trained to detect traditional explosives, such as nitroaromatics and smokeless powders, homemade explosives (HMEs), such as fuel–oxidizer mixtures, are arguably a greater threat. As such, it is imperative that canines are sufficiently trained in the detection of such HMEs. The training aid delivery device (TADD) is a primary containment device that has been used to house HMEs and HME components for canine detection training purposes. This research assesses the odor release from HME components, ammonium nitrate (AN), urea nitrate (UN), and potassium chlorate (PC), housed in TADDs. Canine odor recognition tests (ORTs) were used with analytical data to determine the detectability of TADDs containing AN, UN, or PC. Headspace analysis by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) with solid-phase microextraction (SPME) or online cryotrapping were used to measure ammonia or chlorine, as well as other unwanted odorants, emanating from bulk AN, UN, and PC in TADDs over 28 weeks. The analytical data showed variation in the amount of ammonia and chlorine over time, with ammonia from AN and UN decreasing slowly over time and the abundance of chlorine from PC TADDs dependent on the frequency of exposure to ambient air. Even with these variations in odor abundance, canines previously trained to detect bulk explosive HME components were able to detect all three targets in glass and plastic TADDs for at least 18 months after loading. Detection proficiency ranged from 64% to 100% and was not found to be dependent on either age of material.