Mechanical and Bioinstrumentation Design

Sensors must ultimately be integrated into systems that can be easily used for specific applications. We incorporate many traditional engineering approaches such as control systmes, data acquisition and software programming into our systems.

One project currently underway uses a portable "suitcase" sensor system developed to monitor for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ourdoor air environments. The development of this system requires specific control over heat transfer within the system and a sophisticated control system integrated with sensor control and data acquisition.

We also have additional projects underway to connect physiological sensors into personal mobile devices for health monitoring. Our first example of this device uses an iPad interface to connect to a peak flow meter. This device can monitor when patients have decreases in exhaled force rates, which often occurs with asthma symptom onset. This type of device could potentially be used for longitudinal asthma symptom monitoring, and could even email the results back to the patients doctor.