Science Daily May 10, 2019 The new method for detecting trace amounts of explosives developed by researchers in the UK uses ion chromatography. The method is less time consuming. The technique can tell us so much more than just the explosives content. They have demonstrated that the technique detects thousands of different compounds simultaneously, which means there is an element of in-built future-proofing capability to detect new types of explosives if needed or provide critical information about where a device came from or who it belongs to. In particular, linearity for 19 targeted compounds yielded R2 > 0.99 across several orders of […]
Category Archives: Sensors
Locating a shooter from the first shot via cellphone
Phys.org May 13, 2019 Tactical Communication and Protective Systems (TCAPS), earmuffs or earplugs with built-in microphones allowing active hearing protection, have four microphones: two outside the ear canal and two inside it, underneath the hearing protection. Researchers in France have developed a proof of concept shooter location device because most modern combat weapons fire bullets at supersonic speeds, creating two acoustic wave – supersonic shock wave and the second one is a muzzle wave. The device uses the microphone underneath the hearing protection to detect the shock and muzzle waves generated by supersonic shots and record the time difference of […]
Machine learning paves the way for next-level quantum sensing
Phys.org May 2, 2019 An international team of researchers (UK, Germany, USA – industry, University of Washington) show how machine learning can process the noisy readout of a single NV center at room temperature, requiring on average only one photon per algorithm step, to sense magnetic-field strength with a precision comparable to those reported for cryogenic experiments. The findings could lead to a new generation of MRI scanners as well as further potential uses in biology and material science…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Tiny, fast, accurate technology on the radar
Phys.org April 8, 2019 An international team of researchers (Italy, Saudi Arabia) has developed a low-power, portable frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar with an operating frequency of 24 Gigahertz. It has one transmitting and two receiving antennae, meaning it can better estimate the angular location of a target. The device fits into a 10-centimeter box, weighs less than 150 grams and is powered by a 5V battery. Initial trials suggest the device is capable of target detection, speed estimation and tracking at ranges of up to 12 meters. Possible applications include object detection for visually impaired people or unmanned moving […]
Printing self-powered sensor systems on plastic
Nanowerk April 22, 2019 An international team of researchers (China, USA – MIT) has developed a proof-of-concept wearable wristband which consists of inkjet-printed electrical interconnects, silicon solar cells for energy harvesting/conversion, printable MnO2-based planar supercapacitors for energy storage, and fully printable SnO2 gas sensor for ethanol/acetone detection. With the supercapacitors serving as photovoltaic energy storage units and providing power for the functional devices during intermittent light illumination, simultaneous functionality without external charging modules can be realized, which is highly desirable for wearable and portable electronics. They synthesized and prepared different functional nanoparticles into printable inks for the fabrication of supercapacitors […]
Warfighters need trusted sensors
Defense Systems April 16, 2019 More and more warfighters around the globe are starting to carry commercial smartphones leveraging the smartphone’s sensors to provide features ranging from blue force tracking to encrypted calling. The Pentagon has banned mobile devices from secure spaces, as smartphone sensors are a potential mother lode for hostile nation-states looking to gather mission-critical information. DOD is working with innovative industry partners on developing trusted sensors in form factors that include a wrist-worn wearable and an intelligent smartphone case that only allows interaction with approved, vetted and signed software. Because these devices operate independently of the vulnerable […]
Biosensor Could Scale New Sensitivity Heights
Optical Society of America News April 4, 2019 An international team of researchers (Switzerland, Australia) combined dielectric metasurfaces and hyperspectral imaging to develop an ultrasensitive label-free analytical platform for biosensing. The technique can acquire spatially resolved spectra from millions of image pixels and use smart data-processing tools to extract high-throughput digital sensing information at the unprecedented level of less than three molecules per μm2. Spectral data retrieval from a single image without using spectrometers enabled paving the way for portable diagnostic applications. This combination of nanophotonics and imaging optics extends the capabilities of dielectric metasurfaces to analyse biological entities and […]
Low-bandwidth radar technology provides improved detection of objects
Phys.org April 2, 2019 Researchers in Israel have demonstrated a ranging system which possesses superior range resolution that is almost completely free of bandwidth limitations. By sweeping over the coherence length of the transmitted signal, the partially coherent radar experimentally demonstrates an improvement of over an order of magnitude in resolving targets, compared to standard coherent radars with the same bandwidth. They developed a theoretical framework to show that the resolution could be further improved without a bound, revealing a tradeoff between bandwidth and sweep time. This concept offers solutions to problems which require high range resolution and accuracy, but […]
Radioactive material detected remotely using laser-induced electron avalanche breakdown
Phys.org March 22, 2019 Researchers at the University of Maryland present a proof-of-principle demonstration of a remote detection scheme using mid-infrared laser–induced avalanche breakdown of air. They observed on-off breakdown sensitivity to the presence of an external radioactive source. They correlated the shift of the temporal onset of avalanche to the degree of seed ionization from the source. They present scaling of the interaction with laser intensity, verify observed trends with numerical simulations, and discuss the use of mid-IR laser–driven electron avalanche breakdown to detect radioactive material at range. The method could be used to scan trucks and shipping containers […]
Army looks to put ground-penetrating radar on drones
Defense Systems March 20, 2019 Ground-penetrating radar devices have not yet been mounted on small unmanned systems primarily because of size, weight and power constraints. The Army wants the radar-on-a-chip technology to deliver a digital map that shows the shapes, sizes and features of objects in the environment and collect data on inert unexploded ordinance (UXO), synthetic tracer material and flora and fauna using radar on a chip operating between 100MHz and 5GHz attached to an unmanned system. The objects of interest may be buried, unburied or partially buried in a 20-square-meter area. The success of the program would alleviate […]