New multiplexed optical read-out technologies for micromachined cantilever sensor arrays

被动感知化学和生物制剂在国家安全、农业、采矿和医药等领域是一项必不可少的能力。在许多情况下，一般感知（例如是否存在农药）和特定感知（哪种农药）都很重要。虽然基于微机电系统（MEMS）的传感器在低成本下表现出极高的性能，但它们仅限于对特定物质的检测。该项目的成功将使低成本的通用mems传感器成为现实，使敏感传感系统首次在农业、集装箱运输安全、一般医疗实践和国家安全等应用中广泛使用。

Passive sensing of chemical and biological agents is an essential capability in fields as diverse as national security, agriculture, mining and medicine. In many cases, generic sensing (e.g. are there pesticides present) as well as specific sensing (which pesticide) are both important. While sensors based on micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) have shown extremely high performance at low cost, they have been limited to detection of a specific substance. Success in this project will make low cost generic MEMS-based sensors a reality, allowing, for the first time, wide-spread use of sensitive sensing systems in applications such as farming, container transport security, general medical practice and national security.