May 7 2009
Sporian Microsystems, a developer of sensors and sensor systems, has been awarded a contract from the US Army to develop a small, modular, field-deployable Chemical/Biological sensor for use in remote monitoring applications based on the innovative combination of novel optoelectronics, optical spectroscopy, and nano-technology. The effort leverages Sporian's expertise in areas including analytical chemistry, molecular biology, optics, low power design, wireless communications and electro-mechanical packaging.
"The system should be easily adapted to sense a wide variety of chemical or biological targets, but the first targets for the Army are airborne biological threat agents such as Bacillus Anthracis. We expect to develop a reusable system, designed to be highly modular to promote integration with a range of existing, and future, data collection and wireless sensor network systems," said Sporian principal investigator Dr. KaTrina Daniels.
The US Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Alexandria, VA will monitor the results of Sporian's development efforts. Sporian is also working with OEMs to determine functional requirements for the sensor. Beyond the DoD, Sporian recognizes opportunities in environmental monitoring, water quality, health care, and security applications.
Sporian Microsystems, Inc. is an aggressive sensors and packaging company. Sporian develops, markets, manufactures and sells a family of novel sensors, multiple sensor-suites, sensor-subsystems and sensor data-loggers. These systems communicate via wireless and wired interconnects, and they deliver several key features, including portability (small size and low power consumption), low cost, and high COTS content. The company owns deep technical, marketing and managerial talent and a strong, differentiated intellectual property and patent base. Sporian is pursuing a product development roadmap that includes four interrelated product lines:
- Environmental sensors including such parameters as temperature, vibration, humidity, shock, and chemical species present in the environment,
- Biological and chemical sensors for environmental contaminant and serum pathogen detection,
- Sensors, coatings and packaging for harsh, high temperature and pressure environments,
- Systems to integrate sensors with signal processing, data logging, wired and wireless communications, and interface software.