Development of Portable Sensor Array Systems for Monitoring Air Contaminants in Cockpit

This Phase-I proposal addresses the need specified in AirForce SBIR 06.1 under the Topic Index of AF06-023 “Advanced Sensor to Identify and Quantify Contaminants in Cockpit Air”. In view of the complexity of the air contaminants in aircraft cockpit, highly sensitive and selective sensor array technology is needed to achieve the effective detection and speciation. This proposed work focuses on the development of portable sensor array technology that couples with nanostructured sensing materials and pattern recognition engine which can simultaneously detect multiple targeted vapors. The phase I goal is to develop the feasibility of a portable, low-power driven, cost-effective sensor array prototype capable of detecting, identifying, and quantifying pollutants in cockpit air such as fuel vapor, carbon monoxide, and smoke. Our approach couples a new class of core-shell structured nanomaterials as array elements to chemiresistive devices in an integrated system. We will pursue the following specific objectives in the Phase I funding period: (1) design nanostructured sensing materials on chemiresistor devices; (2) testing the array nanomaterials in detecting the targeted contaminants with the desired sensitivity, selectivity, detecting limit and response speed; and (3) build a prototype integrated system with sensing arrays, pattern recognition and device miniaturization.