SBIR-STTR Award

There is a critical need and very large marked for a miniature ultra-low pressure transducer to monitor pressure within confined body spaces for both animal and human application. Thus BioTechPlex proposes to develop such a pressure sensor system with wide dynamic and ultra fine resolution. This Fiber-Optic-Linked Pressure Sensor (FOLPS) is based on sensing the pressure-induced deflection on a 1 mm corrugated membrane using a laser diode, fiber-optics and amplitude modulation. Our short term objective is to produce and introduce into market the FOLPS for animal application. Our long term goal is to establish as the preferred pressure measurement system for a wide variety of animal and human application. BioTechPlex is convinced that the FOLPS will be a blockbuster marketing success based on: 1) the projected rapid double digit growth in the biomedical pressure monitoring market; 2) the market-oriented FOLPS design; and 3) the technological innovations of the FOLPS that enable robust measurements to be made with high stability and repeatability. Specifically, BioTechPlex will accomplish the following three objectives in Phase I. I: Demonstrate the feasibility of fabricating a suitable miniature corrugated membrane pressure sensor using Micro-Electro-Mechanical (MEMS) technologies. II. Develop the optical measurement system using laser diode, fiber-optics, and amplitude modulation. III: Integrate the FOLPS to a system to measure realtime pulmonary function analysis using the MatLab platform. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: The FOLPS system will provide pressure measurements within confined spaces in both animals and humans for a wide variety of applications such as airway pressure, arterial and venous pressures, intra-cranial pressure, gastrointestinal pressures, bladder pressures, etc.

Thesaurus Terms:
biomedical equipment development, fiber optics, mechanical pressure, miniature biomedical equipment, patient monitoring device gastrointestinal motility /pressure, intracardiac pressure, intracranial pressure, laser, lung, respiratory airway pressure, respiratory function bioengineering /biomedical engineering, laboratory rat

There is a critical need and very large market for a miniature ultra-low pressure transducer to monitor pressure within confined body spaces for both animal and human application. Thus, BioTechPlex proposes to develop such a pressure sensor system with wide dynamic range and ultra-fine resolution. This Fiber-Optic-Linked Pressure Sensor (FOLPS) is based on sensing the pressure-induced deflection of a corrugated membrane using a light emitting diode, fiber optics and amplitude modulation. Our short-term objective is to produce and introduce into market the FOLPS for animal application. Our long-term goal is to establish the FOLPS as the preferred pressure measurement system for a wide variety of animal and human applications. BioTechPlex is convinced that the FOLPS will be a blockbuster marketing success based on: 1) the projected rapid double digit growth in the biomedical pressure monitoring market; 2) the market-oriented FOLPS design; and 3) the technological innovations of the FOLPS that enable robust measurements to be made with high stability and repeatability. Following the successful Phase I study, BioTechPlex will accomplish the following two objectives in Phase II: 1) Develop the FOLPS system as a pressure measurement system; 2) Develop the FOLPS system into a system to measure real-time pulmonary function analysis for small animals. BioTechPlex will also explore the FOLPS system to provide pressure measurements within confined spaces in both animals and humans for a wide variety of applications such as airway pressure, arterial and venous pressures, intra-cranial pressure, gastrointestinal pressures and bladder pressure.

Thesaurus Terms:
biomedical equipment development, biosensor, fiber optics, mechanical pressure, miniature biomedical equipment, patient monitoring device gastrointestinal motility /pressure, intracardiac pressure, intracranial pressure, laser, lung, respiratory airway pressure, respiratory function bioengineering /biomedical engineering, laboratory rat