Cabin Air Sensor Solutions (CASS) has developed a sensor able to detect in real-time, individual poisonous compounds that can be present in an aircraft cabin. Until now it has not been possible to detect these poisonous compounds to establish and prove their presence. 

 

Circad developed the PCB design for an initial bench device, and then integrated these embedded systems into a hand-held device, and developed the prototype electronics for collecting and presenting the data through custom designed software. 

 

The initial handheld unit design and detection capability has been witness tested and verified using Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC MS) by the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, UK for the detection of low-level TBP in ‘real-time’. 

The Raspberry Pi is a credit card sized Printed Circuit Board that is actually a stand alone computer. The Pi enables enthusiasts to quickly develop prototype electronics running code that they have written. Although the Pi is a fantastic product, it is intended to be an educational tool, and not part of a commercial product. Many of these prototype PCBs could be commercially viable products, however entrepreneurs soon discover a couple of problems when trying start manufacturing. 

Fixate's supplier failed to provide a working prototye for a competitive pitch so Circad were contacted at 6pm on a Friday evening and briefed on the technical issues. Following a rapid pcb design review, Circad resolved the hardware and software faults over the weekend & provided working electronics prototypes for a meeting in Switzerland at 9am on the following Monday.