A Small, Light, Weight, Low Power, Low Cost, FT-IR Spectrometer

There are many military, commercial, and medical applications for a small, rugged, and inexpensive infrared (IR) spectrometer. A Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer would be an ideal tool for such measurements; however, FT-IR spectrometers are very sensitive to vibration and subject to misalignment from mechanically or thermally induced forces. To help overcome these barriers, BMDO provided Phase I and Phase II SBIR support to Advanced Fuel Research, Inc. (AFR), between 1992 and 1994 which resulted in a very rugged, fast, and compact FT-IR spectrometer. While there are a significant number of commercial and military applications for a spectrometer with these specifications, (sales of several thousand units/year), a market in the 100 thousand to million units per year could evolve if the price, weight, and power consumption could be reduced by a factor of 10. This is the objective of the proposed project. The overall objective of this project is to design a 0.5 wavenumber resolution, multi-function FT-IR instrument with a spectral range of 1.5 to 25 1lm, a total weight of 10 to 15 Ibs. (including the electronics and computer), a total price of under $3,000 and a power consumption of 30 watts for commercial and DoD applications. The objectives of Phase I are to demonstrate the improvements in key components, determine the specifications, and design a prototype to be fabricated in Phase II. Phase I, to be performed in four tasks, will explore three technology changes to the present design which can save weight, cost, and power consumption. By appropriately modifying and incorporating the innovations into a new design, a low weight, low cost, low volume, low power consumption, multi-function FT-IR instrument can be developed. Applications for portable light weight, low power consumption, and low cost systems include: i) sensors for detecting chemical hazards at fires or other disasters; ii) analysis of human respiration in rescue situations; iii) ambient air or work place ambient monitoring; iv) auto exhaust sensors, v) smoke stack monitors, vi) illegal drug detection, vii) battlefield hazard monitors, viii) military target identification, ix) rocket launch monitor, x) blood analysis, and m