The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday said it has awarded $15 million to 15 small business to develop technology prototypes to help frontline personnel.

The two-year awards were made in 10 topical areas by the Science and Technology Directorate under Phase II of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

The topics and awardees are: Automated Artificial Intelligence Distress Alerts and Monitoring, Vadum, Inc.; Non-Invasive and Real-Time Detection of Counterfeit Microelectronics, Caspia Technologies, LLC; Broadband Push-to-Talk Interoperability Platform, Catalyst Communications Technologies, Inc.; A Step Towards Agent Agnostic Detection of Biological Hazards; Novateur Research Solutions, LLC, and Caelum Research Corp.; Streamlined Airport Checkpoint Screening for Limited Mobility Passengers, AnalyticalAI, LLC, and Spectral Labs Inc.; Mass Fatality Tracking System, Yotta Navigation Corp.; Next Generation High-Performance, Low Cost, Semiconductor-Based Spectroscopic, CapeSym, Inc., and Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc.; Field Forward Detection Platform for High Consequence Toxins, Nanohmics, Inc.; Person Worn Detector for Aerosolized Chemical Threats, N5 Sensors, Inc., and Makel Engineering, Inc.; and From Port-Side to Pen-Side: Low-Cost Detection/Diagnostics for High-Consequence Transboundary or National Reportable Animal Diseases, Particularly Those with Zoonotic Propensity, Lynntech, Inc., and TSA Research, Inc.

Each company will have two years to build and demonstrate prototypes. The program is aimed at setting the companies up for potential Phase III funding from the private sector or non-SBIR government sources to develop a final product.