signals associated with different wavelengths and intensities which can be indicative of different fluorophores turning now to fig2 5 a sensor 30 is able to detect bioaerosols based on a dual channel luminescence detection technique in accordance with the inventive method the sensor 30 is a compact device having dimensions which are approximately 12 u2033 u00d7 16 u2033 u00d7 8 u2033 in addition as will become clear from the following description the sensor 30 has a simple and cost efficient structure allowing thus the sensor to be placed in large quantities in a building to alert building occupants of potentially dangerous biomaterials contained in air as shown in fig2 the sensor 30 comprises three primary units including at least a mechanical system an optical system and an electronic system the mechanical system is configured to collect a sample and transport the latter to the optical system operative to excite emit and detect emission signals having wavelengths of interest the electronic system is adapted to process the emissions signals and control the desired sequence of operations established to carry out the inventive method 10 these systems of the sensor 30 are packaged in a housing 24 made from a material capable of withstanding mechanical loads to preserve the functionality of the entire system even under adverse conditions the mechanical system includes at least a particle sampler or collector concentrator as generally indicated as 34 fig2 and operative to rapidly provide the sample in a form that can be processed by the optical system there are several issues that make sampling for biological agents particularly challenging the first issue is that the sampling is normally targeted at living organisms therefore the technology must not.