SBIR Phase II: Nanostructured Optical Fiber Breathing Sensors

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will develop and commercialize optical fiber sensors for the quantitative measurement of humidity and air flow for breathing diagnostics. Prior Phase I work has demonstrated that these physically small and mechanically robust sensors respond over a wide range of relative humidities with a response time of microseconds, and are orders of magnitude faster than commercially available devices. The Phase II project will develop sensor thin film chemistries with improved response time, design and fabricate an optical fiber sensor optoelectronic support instrumentation system, and beta-test the sensors and systems with clinicians and physicians. The primary commercial impact of this project will be on home health care and clinical research. Additional applications will be in the industrial gas flow, automotive and transportation areas.