PFI-TT: A Fiber-Optic Sensing System for Multiplexed Gas Detection

这一创新技术转化伙伴关系(PFI-TT)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是为农业和工业运营设计气体传感应用。美国国家工程院已将“营养管理”列为一项重大挑战。拟议的项目将开发一个可现场部署的便携式气体传感系统，用于可靠和负担得起的农场健康和安全评估，改善对环境影响的实时监测。该气体传感器在钢铁、水泥和化工制造等行业有商业应用。该项目还将培训接受环境危害监测培训的新一代劳动力，并将研究付诸实践。拟议的项目将推动一种新的光纤、现场可部署、无线、多路复用气体传感系统，用于监测田野/农场和工业排放。该项目将开发一种首创的光学传感系统，能够检测田间释放的强有力的温室气体CH4和CO2，以及农场排放的健康危害NH3和H2S，这些气体在农业/畜牧业作业中以及在工业环境中产生。与现有的传感方法(例如，气相色谱-质谱仪、红外光谱、电化学传感器、商用人工鼻子和现有最先进的光学气体检测技术)不同，拟议的传感系统成本低，并提供目标气体所需的ppm级检测限。该智能优势包括：(1)通过目标特定功能化的两级方法以及耦合的设计多样性和数据分析来降低交叉敏感性和提高灵敏度/特异度，以及(2)用于动态运行时校准的数据分析以及支持连续监测的时分多路复用，以获得具有更高选择性的集成和可重复使用的气体传感系统。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to design gas sensing applications for farming and industrial operations. The National Academy of Engineering has identified “Managing the Nutrients” as a Grand Challenge. The proposed project will develop a field-deployable and portable gas sensing system for reliable and affordable assessment of farm health and safety, improving the real-time monitoring of environmental impacts. The gas sensor has commercial applications in industries such as steel, cement, and chemical manufacturing. The project will also train a new generation of workforce trained towards environmental hazard monitoring and taking research to practice.The proposed project will advance a novel fiber-optic, field-deployable, wireless, multiplexed gas sensing system for monitoring field/farm and industrial emissions. This project will develop a first-of-a-kind optical sensing system capable of detecting field-released potent greenhouse gases CH4 and CO2, and farm-emitted health hazards NH3 and H2S, which are produced in agriculture/animal-farming operation as well as in industrial setting. Unlike the existing sensing methodologies (e.g., gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, electrochemical sensors, commercial artificial noses, and existing state-of-the-art optical gas detection technologies), the proposed sensing system is low-cost and provides the ppm-level limit-of-detection required of the target gases. The intellectual merit includes: (1) an integrated and reusable gas sensing system with higher selectivity through a 2-tiered approach of target specific functionalization together with coupled design-diversity and data-analytics for cross-sensitivity reduction and sensitivity/specificity improvement, and (2) Data analytics for dynamic runtime calibration together with time-division multiplexing to support continuous monitoring.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.