AirSpeQ awarded $695K Phase II grant by the NSF. Phase II award builds on $225K Phase I award to develop a miniaturized, low power particulate matter sensor.

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, September 16, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ — Aerodyne Microsystems Inc, dba AirSpeQ is proud to announce that it has just been awarded a US$695K Phase II grant by the National Science Foundation. The Phase II award builds on the US$225K Phase I award to develop a miniaturized, low power particulate matter sensor.

Worldwide particulate matter air pollution is responsible for nearly as many deaths as cancer and more than malaria and AIDS combined. AirSpeQ is developing a miniaturized, low power air pollution sensor that offers state-of-the-art performance comparable to laboratory instruments at a fraction of the price.

Markets for the sensor include smart homes, smart cities, green buildings, vehicle cabin monitoring, air purifiers, industrial hygiene, and others. Existing air pollution monitors are either high end laboratory grade sensors that are expensive, large, and power hungry or low end consumer market monitors that use optical techniques to provide only a proxy estimate of pollution levels and are unable to detect hazardous ultrafine particulates of diameters smaller than 300 nanometers.

A growing body of research is finding that it is these ultrafine particulates that pose the most serious health risks. AirSpeQ’s sensor employs thermophoretic deposition of airborne particulates from a sample stream onto an acoustic wave resonator and determines the mass deposited by measuring the frequency shift of a sustaining electronic oscillator circuit. Proprietary innovations developed by the company improve sensor stability and lifetime well beyond what was once thought possible.

As Mr. Alex Vieux, Chairman of Red Herring noted recently: “The 21st century will either survive pollution or will succumb to it is widely accepted by scientists, policy-makers and the citizenry. It menaces millions of peoples and causes collateral health problems, identified or not. Measuring pollution and placing sensors everywhere will help capture data, measure the impact and combat the most dangerous threats. It is not only a great technology but without hyperbole, AirSpeq defends and protects all of us and our children altogether. Thus Red Herring names it an uncontested winner among the Red Herring Top 100 2019.”

“NSF is proud to support the technology of the future by thinking beyond incremental developments and funding the most creative, impactful ideas across all markets and areas of science and engineering,” said Andrea Belz, Division Director of the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at NSF. “With the support of our research funds, any deep technology startup or small business can guide basic science into meaningful solutions that address tremendous needs.”

AirSpeQ Chief Technology Officer, David Woolsey noted that the funding will allow the company to move forward more aggressively and stated: “We are honored to receive this award and look forward to improving particulate matter monitoring and detection.”

About the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Programs: America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF awards $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $1.5 million in non-dilutive funds to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $8.1 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. For more information visit www.seedfund.nsf.gov

About Aerodyne Microsystems Inc, dba AirSpeQ: AirSpeQ is committed to improving the planet for animals, humans and plants by commercializing sensors for fine and ultrafine airborne particulate matter detection. Based on patent-pending Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) and Thin-film bulk acoustic resonator (Thin-FBAR) technology, it leverages over twelve years of research and development at the University of California at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It has received funding from NASA, NIH and NSF. For more information visit http://www.airspeq.com

Tania Sole
AirSpeQ
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