Module for Rapid Detection of Gases from Fire and Smoke
University of Central Florida Board of Trustees, Principal Investigator - Kausik Mukhopadhyay, PhD
RELEVANCE
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) recently reported more than 3 million acres have been burned every year since 1999, and the acreage burned each year is increasing from more than 60,000 wildfires occurring in the United States each year. As the fires burn up homes, cars, businesses, and industries, they also release the components of modern daily life into the ground, water, and atmosphere. While the victims and responders tend to focus on the immediate effects of a fire, the ripple effects that flow from these events, ranging from the enormous respiratory and cardiac effects from the plumes of smoke to the aftermath of the toxic chemicals, create enormous burdens faced by the firefighters and first responders.
METHODS
In this effort, we propose to develop a novel photonic integration on-chip for a reduced cost and deliver higher performance to rapidly detect gases and aerosols with almost no interference or fingerprints from other gases through chemical activity. The emitter array will generate narrow, high-intensity, steerable beams, while the detector array allows for fast, coherent detection of terahertz (THz) waves. We plan to fabricate THz emitter arrays to increase detection rates significantly in this effort. Its success will lead to a truly portable THz-based detection system with high performance.
ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES
Our hand-held module will be easy to carry or maneuver using drones, robotic arms, retro-fit to aerial, sea, or land vehicles to detect toxic gases, aerosols, and organics, thereby protecting the lives and health of the firefighters and victims during fires or explosions. Compared to other approaches and detections methods that are bulky, expensive to maintain, space-constrained, in-lab units only, and costly, our device can be carried by crews and civilians for services at a fraction of cost. We will work with firefighters and associations to train the crew on the usability of such devices.