Imagine a smartphone that can analyze colors to assist people with color blindness or help decorate your living room. Or spot counterfeit money. Or even detect cancer.
Three emerging entrepreneurs from Penn State – Associate Professor Zhiwen Liu and PhD candidates Perry Edwards and Chuan Yang – are at work on an affordable, high-performance optical spectrometer, which can be integrated into a cell phone to perform those functions and more. (A spectrometer, according to Merriam-Webster, is “an instrument used for measuring wavelengths of light.”)
“Our goal is to make optical spectrometers affordable and accessible to everyone and transform a cell phone into a personal analytical tool while simultaneously taking advantage of its wireless communication capabilities for data sharing, access, and management,” says Liu.
The project got a major boost this month, winning third place and $100,000, in Vodafone's Wireless Innovation Project Competition.
Plans are advancing to commercialize the technology, says Liu. Penn State has filed a patent application and the team is exploring startup opportunities after recently completing the State College TechCelerator Four-Week Boot Camp.
The technology is based on a unique device, called G-Fresnel, which makes possible a low-cost and miniaturized spectrometer that can be incorporated into a smartphone.
“Combining mobile optical spectroscopy with wireless technology can lead to many new applications such as personal health care, color analysis, chemical and bio-sensing,” says Liu. “The integration of a spectrometer with a cell phone also provides a platform, which can enable even more applications or new apps by fully taking advantage of the creativity of the community. The ability of data sharing will also enable developers to access large amount of data to assess the results and further improve their specific applications.”
Source: Zhiwen Liu, Penn State
Writer: Elise Vider
