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Medium term (5-10 years) technologies would include robust microelectrode voltametric
systems, ion selective electrodes or electrode arrays, fluorescent biosensors and microfluidic
based FIA systems. Long term (>10years) development targets would include nanotechnology
based sensor systems like MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), lab chip based chemical
systems (see ACT Workshop report WR04-03:
Developing Technologies for Environmental
Micro-Chemical Sensors
) and micro-total analytical systems (Buffle and Tercier-Waeber 2005).
As a means to facilitate this development cycle, the group formulated the following table
(Table 2) summarizing information required to peak industries' interest in R&D investment in
metal sensor development. It was also suggested that this could be incorporated into an ACT-
sponsored user survey.
TABLE 2: Information needed to support R&D investment decisions by the private sector for development of field
compatible trace metal sensors.
ACT Workshop on Trace Metal Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Parameter
Provided by
Company
Provided by
End Users
Target Metal(s) & Species
¤
Detection range for each
¤
Limit of Detection
¤
Response Time
¤
Sampling Frequency
¤
Minimum sample volume
¤
Standard Method
¤
Deployment time
¤
Power Options
¤
¤
Telemetry Options
¤
¤
Physical Constraints
¤
Ancillary Sensors
¤
Acceptable Unit Cost
¤
Acceptable Cost per Sample
¤
¤
QA/QC constraints (reagen ts, samples, calibrations)
¤
¤
Operator Training Level
¤
¤
Market Size
¤
Internal Development Cost to Commercialize
¤
Cost of Goods Solds
¤
Certification Requirements (e.g. EPA)
¤
Ancillary Applications (e.g. Homeland Security)
¤