Title:
CHEMICAL SENSORS FOR AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS
By:
Dr. Gary Hunter, Ph.D., Intelligent System Hardware Lead,
NASA Glenn Research Center
Description:
The need for chemical sensor technology has increased in recent years generating the need for the development of new, advanced sensor technology. This tutorial session provides a series of case studies related to the development and application of chemical sensors centering on microfabricated sensors for aerospace applications. Each case study discusses the development of a sensor or sensor system, including technology challenges, and illustrates a major theme related to chemical sensor development. These major themes suggest possible strategies that can be employed to address technical challenges in the area of sensor development. The technology development described here is predominately based on silicon-based processing techniques, commonly referred to as MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, and their use in the fabrication of chemical sensing microsystems. The tutorial session closes with a discussion that goes beyond sensor development to application approaches for including sensor technology into operating systems. It is concluded that sensor technology distributed throughout the vehicle with attributes such as ease of use, reliability, and orthogonality can significantly advance intelligent systems.