Sporian Developing Miniaturized Biological/Chemical Sensor

Sporian Microsystems, a developer of sensors and sensor systems, has been awarded a contract from the US Army to develop a small, modular, field-deployable Chemical/Biological sensor for use in remote monitoring applications based on the innovative combination of novel optoelectronics, optical spectroscopy, and nano-technology. The effort leverages Sporian's expertise in areas including analytical chemistry, molecular biology, optics, low power design, wireless communications and electro-mechanical packaging.

"The system should be easily adapted to sense a wide variety of chemical or biological targets, but the first targets for the Army are airborne biological threat agents such as Bacillus Anthracis. We expect to develop a reusable system, designed to be highly modular to promote integration with a range of existing, and future, data collection and wireless sensor network systems," said Sporian principal investigator Dr. KaTrina Daniels.

The US Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Alexandria, VA will monitor the results of Sporian's development efforts. Sporian is also working with OEMs to determine functional requirements for the sensor. Beyond the DoD, Sporian recognizes opportunities in environmental monitoring, water quality, health care, and security applications.

sporian.com