Core Technology
Key Features
The design supports passive or low-effort sampling because the sorbent collects target substances directly from the water during immersion. It can estimate target concentration without direct volume measurement by using a co-captured reference item to infer effective sampled volume. It can pair chemical sampling with logged context such as time, GPS location, temperature, salinity, pH, pressure, magnetic field, radioactivity, or carbonate conditions, depending on the sensor package used. The carrier format is flexible and can be implemented as a wearable band, a towable housing, or a watercraft-mounted cartridge or recess.
Technical Specifications
| Parameter | Measured value |
|---|---|
| Carrier formats | Wearable band (e.g., ankle/wrist); towable container; watercraft-mounted recess/cartridge concepts |
| Sorbent module function | Captures at least one target item and one reference item during a sampling period |
| Sorbent volume | ~5 mL wet sorbent in one wearable configuration |
| Sampling period | < 1 minute up to hours, days, or weeks (configuration-dependent) |
| Effective-volume approach | Reference item capture is used to estimate effective sampled volume for concentration calculations |
| Target items | Radionuclides (e.g., cesium isotopes); also adaptable to trace elements, chemicals, biological components, pathogens, toxins, pesticides |
| Logged parameters | Time, location (GPS), temperature, pressure, pH, salinity, magnetic field, radioactivity, carbonate levels (implementation-dependent) |
Applications
Applications could include rapid screening and mapping of seawater contamination near coasts and ports, community and citizen-science monitoring programs, swimmer, surfer, and diver exposure-context sampling, and targeted sampling campaigns after spills or nuclear-release concerns. It could also support river and lake monitoring, outfall and wastewater plume tracking, and field sampling workflows where shipping large water volumes is impractical.
Development Status
The system design supports wearable, towable, and watercraft-mounted sampling configurations, and published work describes field use of related sorbent-based radiocesium sampling approaches and workflows.
Categories
- Impact Areas:
- Ecosystem Protection
- Technology Areas:
- Sensors/Instrumentation
