Development of Artificial Haircell Sensors

Abstract

Biological haircells are highly sensitive and yet robust mechanoreceptors that can respond to an extremely wide variety of physical, fluidical, and chemical stimulus. The variety of animals that use haircell, a simple mechanical transducer, for critical tasks is astonishing. This projected aimed to: (1) Learn from the biological systems about haircell sensor design, materials, and performance, and the way multiple sensors are organized; (2) Develop artificial haircell sensors that are inspired by design, materials, and dimensions of biological counterparts using advanced microfabrication strategies; (3) Characterize the performance of artificial haircell sensors and validate the performance of individual sensors and groups of them for flow sensing applications. Apart from the objectives of gaining better performance in terms of combined sensitivity and robustness, the use of bioinspired haircell sensors have other benefits that are important for the military. Sensors are very important for military platforms such as remote wireless sensors and various mobile platforms. However, the cost of developing custom sensors is very high due to the high cost (millions of dollars) and long duration (several years) of sensor development. It is anticipate that the modualar sensor concept will significantly reduce the time it takes to develop a certain sensor and to enable low cost development efforts in the future.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA432406

Entities

People

  • Chang Liu

Organizations

  • University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Assembly
  • Body Weight
  • Cells
  • Data Acquisition
  • Engineering
  • Fabrication
  • Manufacturing
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Mechanical Properties
  • Mechanics
  • Medical Personnel
  • Microelectromechanical Systems
  • Micromachining
  • Nerves
  • Neurons
  • Polymer Matrix Composites

Readers

  • Economics
  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Robotics and Automation.

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology