SBIR Phase I: A Flexible Low Cost In-Situ Multi-Spectral Fluorometer

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research project aims to investigate the feasibility of a flexible solid-state multi-spectral fluorometer for in-situ measurement of water parameters. Current commercially available instruments are limited in the number of wavelengths they offer. They are also expensive due to the use of costly components such as flash lamps, filter wheels, etc. This project will explore the use of a photodiode array, LEDs, optics, and signal processing to give scientists a flexible research tool allowing them to measure any or all wavelengths in the visible region. In addition the price of the instrument compared to current products will be as much as 50% less. A bench top prototype of the key optical, electronic components and software will be built to prove that an all solid-state design can achieve the necessary sensitivity. An emerging trend in water monitoring is the use of in-situ multi-spectral instruments. As opposed to standard fixed optics instruments, multi-spectral instruments allow the measurement of several parameters in parallel and can measure new parameters by performing data analysis on multiple wavelengths obtained simultaneously. Current commercially available instruments restrict researchers to a small number of wavelengths. They are also expensive. Hence they have not been, and are unlikely to ever be, widely adopted in the scientific community. A more flexible in-situ multi-spectral fluorometer dramatically increases the data that scientists can generate from a single instrument. The lower cost increases the availability of the instruments to researchers with limited funds.