Field-level Aviation Fuel Contamination Analysis via Integrated Suite of Miniaturized Sensors including Near Infrared (NIR) Spectroscopy

Auctus Blue, LLC Phase I research will identify the potential of our currently-available, miniaturized near infrared (NIR) spectroscopic sensor and its associated peripherals to (1) collect spectral data on the physio-chemical properties in military fuels and aerospace chemical samples sufficient to provide a forensic or triage capability to assess a questionable fuel or aerospace chemical sample collected in a deployed environment, (2) integrate with an Air Force-network-compatible smart-phone/tablet and software application capable of configuration, control, and transmission of data collected, (3) send collected sample data to an off-site locations via multiple means (Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or WiFi, USB cable, or Lightning cable) for analysis by a third party technical expert as well as other analysis requirements provided by the Air Force within 20-30 minutes, (4) conduct proof of principle experiments supporting the concept and provide evidence of the feasibility of our approach, and (5) apply pre-processing and chemo-metrics to NIR spectral data to predict with adequate accuracy properties such as density, miscibility, volatility, boiling points, freezing points, and flash point; and sulfur, ethanol, and water content in samples. Phase I leads seamlessly to potential Phase II work to build and evaluate three prototype integrated sensor suites.