Olfactory Sensors and MEMS Based Ultrasonic Transducers

随着人们对“物联网”的兴趣，特别是对新的仪器网络的兴趣，许多工业部门都需要研究新的传感器技术，包括汽车行业(加速、接近、成像)、石油、天然气和危险材料的运输(泄漏检测)、化妆品和安全(ppm级别的气味检测和辨别)和医药(样品测试、成像)等。我的研究将开发结合了硅基技术的新型传感器&用于嗅觉传感器阵列的聚合物薄膜，以及用于医学成像和大气测试的基于微电子机械系统(MEMS)的超声波设备。*我计划的一个主题是将基于硅的设备与专门设计用于传感挥发性有机化合物的聚合物薄膜进行集成。采用硅技术，结合所有必需的数字和模拟电路，以混合方式，每个单独的传感器都使用特定于应用的聚合物薄膜来实现“功能化”。使用不同的聚合物材料、沉积工艺和不同的掺杂剂，这些聚合物将被设计成对广泛的嗅觉分子敏感。通过使用大量的传感器，统计学习(AI)算法将被用来完全模拟哺乳动物的嗅觉。这种电子传感器阵列系统可用于检测和区分许多不同的应用，包括化妆品、食品和饮料的大规模生产，船舶和/或航空工业中不同燃料类型的检测，甚至生物恐怖主义和安全领域中的爆炸物识别。*该项目的第二个主题包括设计新的超声波换能器。我的团队开发了一种正在申请专利的换能器，用于对水电电缆和医学成像中的缺陷进行成像。这项工作现在正在扩大，以包括用于大气测试的传感器开发。MEMS换能器将根据不同的波束形状、频率和功率要求进行设计。我们过去的一些设计正在与马尼托巴大学和卡尔加里大学的其他研究人员合作，在微波/超声波成像系统中进行测试。我们的专利多膜换能器的初步结果是有希望的，但还需要做很多工作。*MEMS换能器也正在与康奈尔和塔夫茨大学和NASA的研究人员合作开发用于大气测试。这些用于测量风速和风向的风速计需要在火星大气中工作，火星大气与地球大气有很大不同，大部分是二氧化碳，压力比地球低100倍。我们正在申请专利的传感器将进行重新设计，以便在未来的火星风速计中应用。*

With the interest in the “internet of things” & specifically with new instrument networks, research of new sensor technologies is required for many in a number of industrial sectors, including in the automotive industry (acceleration, proximity, imaging), oil, gas & transportation of hazardous material (leak detection), cosmetics & security (odor detection & discrimination at ppm levels), & medicine (sample testing, imaging), to name a few. My research will develop new sensors that combine silicon based technologies & polymer thin films for olfactory sensor arrays & micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) based ultrasonic devices for medical imaging & atmospheric testing.**** One theme of my program is work on integrating of silicon-based devices with specifically design polymer films for sensing volatile organic compounds. Using silicon technology, with all of the required digital & analog circuitry, in a hybrid fashion, each individual sensor is “functionalised” using an application specific polymer films. Using different polymer materials, deposition processes & different dopants, these polymers will be designed to be sensitive to a wide range of olfactory molecules. By using large numbers of sensors statistical & learning (AI) algorithms will be used to fully mimic mammalian olfaction. Such electronic sensor array systems can be used to sense & discriminate between many different chemical compounds for many different applications that could include in the mass production of cosmetics, food & beverages, in the detection of different fuel types in either the shipping &/or aviation industries & even in the recognition of explosives in the areas of bio-terrorism & security.* *** A 2nd theme of this program includes the design of new ultrasonic transducers. A patent-pending transducer was developed by my group for imaging defects in hydro-electric cables and medical imaging. This work is now being expanded to include sensor development for atmospheric testing. MEMS transducers will be designed with different beam shapes, frequencies & power requirements. Some of our past designs are being tested in an microwave/ultrasonic imaging system in collaboration with other researchers at the University of Manitoba and Calgary.. Initial results from our patented multi-membrane transducer are promising, but much work is required.* *** MEMS transducers are also being developed for atmospheric testing in collaboration with researchers at Cornell & Tufts Universities and NASA. These anemometers, for wind speed & direction, need to work in the Martian atmosphere which is much different than Earth's and is mostly CO2 with a pressure 100 times less than Earth's. Our patent-pending sensor, will undergo a re-design to enable its application in future Mars anemometers.******