Optical gas sensor based on an Android application for real-time, reconfigurable spectroscopic data analysis

We present an easily deployable distributed system for gas sensing and analysis based on an Android application functioning as a real-time comparator between the measurements of a molecular spectroscopy sensor and an online spectroscopic database. The application wirelessly reads via Bluetooth the optical spectrum captured by a tunable laser gas sensor and compares it to a simulated spectrum performing molecule identification and concentration estimation. The simulations are computed in real-time using spectroscopic parameters retrieved from online databases providing a high degree of flexibility and adaptability. The experimental validation of the performance of the system has been carried out using a specially designed Wavelength Modulation Spectroscopy (WMS) instrument, spectroscopic data from HITRAN and methane as the target gas.