Increase Scanning Distance

[ZachRagatz]

Hi all,

 

I haven’t used one of these devices yet, but I’m very curious about a further application of it, outside of the food industry. Perhaps this is an impossible idea, but I’d love to get thoughts on it.

 

Main Idea: Is it possible to increase the range of the scanner (i.e. scan an object from 10/20/50 meters) if you’re only looking for one specific chemical or marker? I’ve noticed that the scanner is usually about 2 inches away from a food object it’s scanning.

 

I’m curious if it would be possible to point a scanner at a wall where I have painted a small dot with a specific type of paint (different in a single, chemical way than the surrounding area) and have the SCiO scanner identify that the targeted area has a chemical trace present (referred to as Chemical X below)?

 

By correlating time, angle and distance data from that single spot, in theory, you could use the scanner to give accurate information on where this Chemical X is located on the wall.

 

Here would be a scenario in which I would try to test this theory:

1) Make a 1cm diameter circle of paint that contains Chemical X on a wall

2) Stand several meters away from the wall

3) Point the scanner at the wall

4) Slowly pan the scanner across a selection of the wall (from (-10,0) to (10,0) if you imagine the wall to be a Cartesian plane)

5) Identify the exact point(s) at which Chemical X is present on the wall

 

Would this be possible? I wouldn’t need to know anything about the other chemicals present in the wall, and the depth of the scan could be pretty negligible. The scan would merely return binary data for small, successive areas on the wall as the scanner pans by it. I’m thinking it would be like using a laser pointer, but that laser says yes/no to Chemical X being present in its path.

 

Please let me know what you think!

[Ayelet]

Hi Zach,

 

Unfortunately, we believe that your suggestion is most likely not feasible with SCiO.

First, SCiO should be placed up to about 5-15 mm (“0.2-0.68″) from the sample. The recommended distance is around 5mm (0.2”). So that scanning an object from 10/20/50 meters is not possible.

 

Secondly, specifically as for paint spots analysis – SCiO works in the Near Infrared range, so that any features of the paint which are in the visible range will not be detectable. Other chemicals placed may be detectable.

 

Generally speaking, notice that SCiO illuminates a spot of light over the sample with a diameter of about 20mm when the sample you are scanning is 10mm away from the SCiO sensor. The ability to scan depends on the light penetration into the material (can vary from microns for some elements, like stones, to centimeters for biological tissues and liquids). The scanned area is limited to the area that is illuminated by the SCiO illumination beam. Any area that is not illuminated is not scanned.

 

I hope it was helpful.

 

Ayelet,

The Consumer Physics Team

[Author]

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