Very Low Cost, Lightweight Detector Technologies for Small, Expendable Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs)

"Graviton proposes to fabricate a Miniaturized Chemical Agent Detector (MCAD) for deployment on UAVs using a microcantilever MEMS based sensor array. The proposed detector could be dramatically smaller, lighter, and less expensive than conventionalchemical agent detectors, readily meeting the size, power and cost constraints imposed on payloads for UAVs. The detector utilizes an array of surface micromachined cantilevers, coated with chemoselective coatings optimized for the detection of chemicalwarfare agents.The Phase I effort will also provide a side-by-side comparison of the Graviton detector system with Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) sensor platforms, coated with the same chemoselective coatings. The MEMS-based microcantilever chemical sensor system proposed here for chemical warfare agent detection on UAVs has very broad relevance in a number of commercial applications. When combined with Graviton's wireless communication technology, thesesensors are ideal for monitoring a variety of chemical and physical targets in a distributed system where a premium is placed on early detection of problems. The low cost, low power consumption, small size, and wireless connectivity of this technology isexpected to enable penetration of marketspace previously inaccessible to sensor systems."