Sensor technology

Small and inexpensive sensors

Sensor technologies are at the heart of innovation development because they allow you to measure and collect data. The need for (new) affordable sensor technologies is great, because there is much that we cannot yet measure. Making measurements in a laboratory is often expensive and time-consuming, which makes quick adjustments impossible. OnePlanet therefore develops new small and inexpensive sensors based on different technologies such as radio frequencies, electrochemistry and photonics.

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A broad palette

Not every technology lends itself to every purpose. A diverse palette of sensor technologies is therefore important. Their application depends on the object properties you want to measure. Each material has different properties that determine how deeply electro – magnetic radiation, such as light and radio frequency waves, can penetrate the material. For example, the ripeness of tomatoes is related to sugar content, measurable with infrared light. For example, OnePlanet developed a device to measure how a potato grows underground. This can be done with radio frequency waves because they go deeper through the ground than light beams, for example. Light beams, in turn, are more often used to measure objects with lower material density, such as apples.

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Integrated photonics

Of all sensor technologies, integrated photonics is the most novel and groundbreaking. Photonics is all about generating, transporting, processing and detecting light. The technology is similar to electronics, only it uses photons rather than electrons to measure. OnePlanet’s research includes integrated photonic sensors fabricated on silicon via wafer-scale technology similar to traditional chips.
This technology makes it possible to create sensors that are small, inexpensive, energy efficient and more robust than current sensor technologies. Such sensors offer opportunities for the fields of agriculture, food and health, because you can place them directly on a robot, drone or other application and from there take measurements of, for example, plants, food, people or gases in the air. In order to directly adjust the production process or health.

PhotonDelta

In the National Growth Fund program PhotonDelta, OnePlanet is working with various partners to develop integrated photonics. The emphasis is on the development and (reliable) production of the technology, but also on investigating possible agricultural food and health applications and whether there is a market for them. Ultimately, these things must come together. At the end of this program, validated prototypes are expected, after which (Gelderland) companies can bring the technology to the market.

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