CoBRA® Teams with University of Virginia Students to Develop Dirty Bomb Response Tool for Homeland Defense

Alexandria, Va. based Defense Group Inc. has collaborated with four undergraduates at the University of Virginia to develop a software tool designed for use by public safety personnel responding to terrorist attacks that involve radiological contamination.

Alexandria, Va. / PR Web / Alexandria based Defense Group Inc. has collaborated with four undergraduates at the University of Virginia to develop a software tool designed for use by public safety personnel responding to terrorist attacks that involve radiological contamination.

This radiological tool will expand the capabilities of the Chemical Biological Response Aide (CoBRA®), software that is in wide use by almost 2,000 first responder agencies across the country.

The tool addresses terrorist use of hazardous radioactive materials in a so-called dirty bomb," conventional explosives wrapped with radiological waste; a spill of radioactive materials; or an industrial accident involving medical equipment that uses radioactive materials for purposes of diagnosis, measurement, or treatment.

This is an extremely important effort to give first responders the capability theyve lacked in an area that represents a significant threat," said Donald Brown, chairman of the department of systems engineering at U.Va. Our students learned a lot about systems engineering, but they also worked on an important project that will benefit society as a whole."

The new CoBRA® Radiological Tool will enable first responders quickly to analyze the extent of the hazard to the public. The tool uses sophisticated calculation methods developed by the Department of Energy lab at Livermore, Calif., and incorporates exposure guidance developed by radiation health physicists at the Department of Defense. The CoBRA® 'Rad Tool calculates the downwind hazard to exposed personnel, based on the size of the release and the weather conditions at the time of the incident, and predicts the anticipated number of casualties. It also provides emergency response guidelines tailored to each incident.

This tool greatly simplifies the complex task of responding to radiological hazards," added Donald Ponikvar, senior vice president of Defense Group Inc. We are excited to add this capability to the CoBRA® suite of response tools."

The contribution of the fourth-year U.Va. systems engineering students involved designing an intuitive user interface and building the connections between the new tool and the existing CoBRA® software. The 'Rad Tool will soon be available to all current users of CoBRA® software.

The students will present their capstone project" -- similar to a senior thesis and required of all graduating systems engineering students at U.Va. -- to the University community on April 25 in Charlottesville.

About DGI
Since 1987, DGI has been assisting federal, state, and local government agencies in their response to potential incidents involving biological and chemical agents, nuclear weapons, radiological materials, and conventional explosives. DGI has provided its products and services to the FBI, Pentagon, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, DOE, and National Guard as well as corporations such as MCI and Bristol Myers Squibb. DGIs CoBRA® response tools provide first responders with efficient coordinated response through recognized SOPs and checklists, dissemination of intelligence reports, and standardized incident reports.