ABSTRACT
We introduce a novel laser spectroscopic trace-gas sensor platform, LaserSPECks that integrates recently developed miniature quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QE-PAS) gas sensing technology. This universal platform uses infrared laser spectroscopy detect and quantify numerous gas species at part-per-million to part-per-billion (ppm-ppb) concentrations [2]. Traditional gas sensing devices capable of the same sensitivity and specificity are several orders of magnitude larger in size, cost, and power consumption. Thus, high resolution gas sensing technology has been difficult to integrate into small, low-power, replicated sensors suitable for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). This paper presents the principles behind laser based trace gas detection, design issues, and outlines the implementation of a miniaturized trace-gas sensor from commerical-off-the-shelf (COTS) components. We report on an early prototype as a proof-of-concept for integration into WSN applications. We also describe a number of ongoing collaborations in utilizing the platform in air pollution and carbon ux quantification, industrial plant control, explosives detection, and medical diagnosis. Furthermore, we discuss experimental performance evaluations to examine general platform requirements for these types of sensors. The results of our evaluation illustrate that our prototype improves upon previous gas sensing technology by two orders of magnitude in measures of power consumption, size, and cost, without sacrificing sensor performance. Our design and experiments reveal that laser-based trace-gas sensors built from COTS can be successfully implemented and integrated within WSN nodes to enable a wide range of new and important sensing applications.
- C. Chen and Z. Li. A Low-Power CMOS Analog Multiplier. IEEE Trans. Circ. Sys. II, 53(2):100--104, 2006.Google ScholarCross Ref
- R. Curl and F. Tittel. Tunable infrared laser spectroscopy. Annu. Rep. Prog. Chem. C, (98):217--270, 2002.Google Scholar
- A. Kosterev, Y. Bakhirkin, R. Curl, and F. Tittel. Quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy. Opt. Lett., 27:1902--1904, 2002.Google ScholarCross Ref
- A. Kosterev, Y. Bakhirkin, and F. Tittel. Ultrasensitive gas detection by quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy in the fundamental molecular absorption bands region. Appl. Phys. B, (80):133--138, 2005.Google Scholar
- A. Kosterev, T. Moseley, and F. Tittel. Impact of humidity on quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy based detection of HCN. Appl. Phys. B, (85):295--300, 2006.Google Scholar
- A. Kosterev, F. Tittel, D. Serebryakov, A. Malinovsky, and I. Morozov. Applications of quartz tuning forks in spectroscopic gas sensing. Rev. of Sci. Instr., 76(043105), 2005.Google Scholar
- A. Mandelis. Signal-to-noise ratio in lock-in amplifier synchronous detection: A generalized communications systems approach with applications to frequency, time, and hybrid (rate window) photothermal measurements. Rev. of Sci. Instr., (65):3309, 1994.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Y. Matsuyoshi, Y. Satoh, T. Shinozaki, E. Suzuki, and N. Nagata. High-speed and sensitive multiple-point ammonia gas monitor system. In Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference Proceedings, 1999 IEEE International Symposium on, pages 409--412, 1999.Google ScholarCross Ref
- M. R. McCurdy, Y. A. Bakhirkin, and F. Tittel. Quantum cascade laser-based integrated cavity output spectroscopy of exhaled nitric oxide. Appl. Phys. B, (85):445--452, 2006.Google Scholar
- B. Moeskops, H. Naus, S. Cristescu, and F. Harren. Quantum cascade laser-based carbon monoxide detection on a second time scale from human breath. Appl. Phys. B, (82):649--654, 2006.Google Scholar
- C. C. Mulligan, D. R. Justes, R. J. Noll, N. L. Sanders, B. C. Laughlin, and R. G. Cooks. Direct monitoring of toxic compounds in air using a portable mass spectrometer. Analyst, (131):556--567, 2006.Google Scholar
- C. Panichi and G. L. Ruffa. Stable isotope geochemistry of fumaroles: an insight into volcanic surveillance. J. of Geodynamics, 32(4--5):519--542, 2001.Google ScholarCross Ref
- J. Polastre, R. Szewczyk, and D. Culler. Telos: enabling ultra-low power wireless research. In International symposium on Information processing in sensor networks (IPSN), SPOTS track, page 48, 2005. Google ScholarDigital Library
- L. S. Rothman, A. Barbe, D. C. Benner, L. R. Brown, C. Camy-Peyret, M. R. Carleer, K. Chance, C. Clerbaux, V. Dana, V. M. Devi, A. Fayt, J.-M. Flaud, R. R. Gamache, A. Goldman, D. Jacquemart, K. W. Jucks, W. J. Lafferty, J.-Y. Mandin, S. T. Massie, V. Nemtchinov, D. A. Newnham, A. Perrin, C. P. Rinsland, J. Schroeder, K. M. Smith, M. A. H. Smith, K. Tang, R. A. Toth, J. V. Auwera, P. Varanasi, and K. Yoshino. The HITRAN molecular spectroscopic database: edition of 2000 including updates through 2001. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer, (82):5--44, 2003Google ScholarCross Ref
- J. Silver and M. Zondlo. High-precision CO2 sensor for meteorological balloons. In S. Christesen, A. S. III, J. Gillespie, and K. Ewing, editors, Optics East, volume 6378-15, page 63780J. SPIE, 2006.Google Scholar
- D. Smith, T. Wang, J. Sule-Suso, P. Spanel, and A. El Haj. Quantification of acetaldehyde released by lung cancer cells in vitro using selected ion ow tube mass spectrometry. Rapid Comm. in Mass Spectr., 77(8):845--850, 2003.Google ScholarCross Ref
- S. So, G. Wysocki, J. Frantz, and F. Tittel. Development of DSP controlled quantum cascade laser-based trace gas sensor technology. IEEE Sensors J., 6(5):1057--1067, 2006.Google ScholarCross Ref
- M. O. Sonnaillon and F. J. Bonetto. A low-cost, high-performance, digital signal processor-based lock-in amplifier capable of measuring multiple frequency sweeps simultaneously. Rev. of Sci. Instr., 76(024703), 2005.Google Scholar
- S. Strozecki. Switching regulator forms constant-current source. EDN magazine, page 92, May 2002.Google Scholar
- Texas Instruments. SLOS390A, DRV592 Datasheet, 2002.Google Scholar
- T. L. Toan, F. Ribbes, L.-F. Wang, N. Floury, K.-H. Ding, J. A. Kong, M. Fujita, and T. Kurosu. Rice crop mapping and monitoring using ERS -1 data based on experiment and modeling results. IEEE Trans. on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 35(1):41--56, 1997.Google ScholarCross Ref
- M. Webber, T. MacDonald, M. B. Pushkarsky, C. K. N. Patel, Y. Zhao, N. Marcillac, and F. M. Mitloehner. Agricultural ammonia sensor using diode lasers and photoacoustic spectroscopy. Meas. Sci. and Tech., 16:1547--1553, 2005.Google ScholarCross Ref
- C. Webster, G. Flesch, K. Mansour, R. Haberle, and J. Bauman. Mars laser hygrometer. Appl. Opt., (27):4436--4445, 2004.Google Scholar
- D. Weidmann, A. A. Kosterev, F. K. Tittel, N. Ryan, and D. McDonald. Application of a widely electrically tunable diode laser to chemical gas sensing with quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy. Opt. Lett., 29(16):1837--1839, 2004.Google ScholarCross Ref
- E. Welsh, W. Fish, and J. Frantz. GNOMES: A testbed for low-power heterogeneous wireless sensor networks. In IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), volume 4, pages 836--839, 2003.Google ScholarCross Ref
- G. Werner-Allen, K. Lorincz, M. Welsh, O. Marcillo, J. Johnson, M. Ruiz, and J. Lees. Deploying a wireless sensor network on an active volcano. IEEE Internet Computing, 10(2):18--25, 2006. Google ScholarDigital Library
- M. Wojcik, M. Phillips, B. Cannon, and M. Taubman. Gas-phase photoacoustic sensor at 8.41μm using quartz tuning forks and amplitude-modulated quantum cascade lasers. Appl. Phys. B, 85:307--313, 2006.Google ScholarCross Ref
- G. Wysocki, A. Kosterev, and F. Tittel. Influence of molecular relaxation dynamics on quartz-enhanced photoacoustic detection of CO2 at λ = 2 μm. Appl. Phys. B, (85):301--306, 2006.Google Scholar
- G. Wysocki, M. McCurdy, S. So, D. Weidmann, C. Roller, R. F. Curl, and F. K. Tittel. Pulsed quantum-cascade laser-based sensor for trace-gas detection of carbonyl sulfide. Appl. Opt., 43(32):6040--6046, 2004.Google ScholarCross Ref
Index Terms
- LaserSPECks:: laser SPECtroscopic trace-gas sensor networks - sensor integration and applications
Recommendations
An energy efficient Genetic Algorithm based approach for sensor-to-sink binding in multi-sink wireless sensor networks
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are ad-hoc networks in which sensors, that are designed to relay data back to sink nodes and/or Base Stations, are deployed in an area and may be configured in real time. Sensors, however, have limited energy supplies and ...
Sensors with lasers: building a WSN power grid
IPSN '14: Proceedings of the 13th international symposium on Information processing in sensor networksWe present here a first practical energy distribution architecture that allows us to decouple energy supply from sensing activities in WSN. Such a separation of responsibilities enables us to utilize abundant energy sources distant from the sensing ...
Pre-Deployment Testing, Augmentation and Calibration of Cross-Sensitive Sensors
EWSN '16: Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Embedded Wireless Systems and NetworksOver the past few years, many low-cost pollution sensors have been integrated into measurement platforms for air quality monitoring. However, using these sensors is challenging: concentrations of toxic substances in ambient air often lie at sensors' ...
Comments