Investigation of Animal Sensor and Sensor Information Processing Mechanisms for Application to Target Acquisition and Tracking.
Abstract
The investigation was concerned primarily with the sensory modes used by flies, bees, and moths to acquire and track targets. Analyses of the findings suggested methodologies for the construction of a system to detect and possibly identify trace amounts of airborne chemicals and to a novel light sensing device which appears to have potential as an inexpensive solar cell. The olfactory instrument is composed of an array of units each one of which has its own view of the odor environment. The individual units may have a hair-like configuration and they can be electrically biased. Desorption of odor is readily accomplished by exposure to clean air. The effect of odor on the electrical bias is read from each individual unit in the array and the readout is fed to a logic system which constructs a final composite waveform to identify the odor constituent. A partially successful unit consisting of a filament coated with a liquid potassium soap and stretched between platinum electrodes is described, and the design for an organic semiconductor odor is suggested. The solar cell is composed of a sandwich constructed of a SnO2 coated glass plate, a dye film made of Methyl Violet 2B agar and water, and a glass plate coated with bright platinum. A conversion efficiency for 500 nm light of 0.48 percent was demonstrated and it is indicated that the efficiency may be 5 percent or more. Electrical characteristics of the photocell are presented and the nature of the apparatus is discussed. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1971
- Accession Number
- AD0720412
Entities
People
- Robert E. Kay