Cell phones to detect harmful chemicals
By siliconindia news bureau
Tuesday, 18 May 2010, 08:12 IST
Washington: Cell phones will now come with a new feature, which would detect
dangerous airborne chemicals and alert emergency responders through a cell
phone network. This could be done through atiny silicon chip that works more
like a nose.
"This technology could map a chemical accident as it unfolds," said Michael
Sailor, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of
California, San Diego who heads the research effort.Cellphones are available
everywhere and Sailor backed up his statement with this.
The first phase of development of the sensor has been successfully finished by
Rhevision, a small startup company located in San Diego, Sailor's research
group at UCSD. The sensor, a porous flake of silicon- changes colour when it
interacts with specific chemicals.the researchers can tune individual spots on
the silicon flake to respond to specific chemical traits by manipulating the
shape of the pores.
A set of sensory cells can detect specific chemical properties. It's the
pattern of activation across the array of sensors that the brain recognizes as
a particular smell. In the same way, the pattern of color changes across the
surface of the chip and it will reveal the identity of the chemical.
Their chips can detect methyl salicylate, a compound used to simulate the
chemical warfare agent mustard gas, and toluene, a common additive in gasoline.
"The beauty of this technology is that the number of sensors contained in one
of our arrays is determined by the pixel resolution of the cell phone camera.
With the megapixel resolution found in cell phone cameras today, we can easily
probe a million different spots on our silicon sensor simultaneously. So we
don't need to wire up a million individual sensors," Sailor said. "We only need
one. This greatly simplifies the manufacturing process because it allows us to
piggyback on all the technology development that has gone into making cell
phone cameras lighter, smaller, and cheaper."
Fire-fighters could use this technology to detect carbon monoxide during fires
and the mine workers can detect impending explosion in mines.
Ur's
M.K.
"making impossible possible".
--
___________________________________________________________________
Welcome to Maa Vee Maa Kaa Nanbargal valai Kuzhu (Friendship Group)!
This group is purely of the Youth,
by the Youth and
for the Youth.
Utilize this group to post your views & messages.
___________________________________________________________________
To post to this Maa Vee Maa Kaa group, send your emails to [email protected]
Regards,
Owner,
Maa Vee Maa Kaa.
