Network World - If you are in need of finding out if there is ammonia, chlorine gas or methane in the air around you, there’s an iPhone app for that. A researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center has developed what NASA calls a proof of concept of new technology that would bring compact, low-cost, low-power, high-speed nanosensor-based chemical sensing capabilities to cell phones.

The device NASA researcher Jing Li developed is about the size of a postage stamp and fits in the iPhone to collect, process and transmit sensor data, NASA said. The device senses chemicals in the air using a "sample jet" and a multiple-channel silicon-based sensing chip, which consists of 16 nanosensors, and sends detection data to another phone or a computer via telephone communication network or Wi-Fi.

Li along with researchers working under the Cell-All program in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate developed the app.

Cell-All is designed to provide greater chemical detection capabilities in cell phones. Cell phone owners could use their phone's GPS to provide sensor location information to emergency operation centers, NASA stated.

This isn’t NASA's first iPhone app. Last month, Ames also developed the first NASA iPhone application to deliver up-to-the-minute NASA content directly from the space program to your iPhone. The application aggregates and delivers a range of dynamically updated information, images and video links.

Comment Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Originally published on www.networkworld.com. Click here to read the original story.

Jump to comments

Software

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER

EFD vs. HDD - What You Need to Know

Enterprise flash drives provide a new Tier 0 storage layer capable of delivering high I/O performance at a very low latency. Proper use of EFDs in an Oracle environment can deliver increased performance compared to fibre channel drives. Read the recommendations for identification of the best DB components for EFDs.

WHITE PAPER

Gartner Research Report: Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers, 2009

The market for products to improve the delivery of application software over networks remains dynamic and innovative. Vendors focused on solving enterprises' most-pressing application problems have become the top players.

WHITE PAPER

Eight Criteria for Server Load Balancing

Server load balancers are a simple yet highly effective means to scale an application environment while ensuring its availability. Today's solutions should also address application performance and security. Read about the top eight criteria you should consider when choosing a server load balancer and how Citrix NetScaler meets those requirements.

Strategic Content Management
Learn how the right Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution can start saving you money within a week and pay for itself in as little as three months. These case studies and white papers provide practical information on how to go from theory to reality - to help you put together a plan that will achieve your content management and process automation goals.
Enter the Strategic Content Management Zone now