Investigation of the Impact of Extraneous Odours on the Detection Capability of Explosive Detection Dogs Under a Controlled Test Environment

In this work, an experimental procedure that enables testing of canine detection capabilities is described. The developed testbed includes an experimental setup with six exchangeable detection/sniffing boxes for odour masking experiments as well as an air-conditioned (adjustable temperature and humidity) test environment. This design is used to test the masking effects of petroleum and n-decane in high and low concentrations on the detection probability of targets containing technical-grade TNT on explosive detection dogs. The potential influence of the masking agents at different concentrations was investigated with eight canines and, in total, more than 1250 test runs. Within the limits of this investigation, no negative impact of the masking agent on the canine detection capabilities (probability of the successful detection of the target) could be found.