Embedded systems development for spacecraft fire detection MIR optical sensor

At the beginning of 2023 scientific group from the University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida in cooperation with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation, Washington published an article where they describe a fire detection system for spacecraft using VIGO product.

Human exploration and commercial use of space is becoming more and more real by the day. There is a need to ensure rapidly implementable and standardized components and procedures that can address safety needs. Scientists notice that malfunctions such as smoldering, unplanned combustion, and electrical faults aboard a spacecraft pose a great risk of disaster.

On the front of the device created by the researchers is a mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) photodiode (PVI-4TE-6-1X1-TO8-WZNSEAR-36) produced by VIGO Photonics with bandpass filter daughterboard. Then there are dedicated PCB to regulate temperatures on LEDs and photodiode, LED driver PCB, microprocessor PCB and power Supply PCB. The authors decided to choose MCT photodiode which is spectrally sensitive over the range of 4.0-5.0μm, with high and uniform gain. Great parameters of VIGO detector used in drive LED-based absorption spectroscopy early fire detection sensor, enable to provide of satisfactory information about CO and CO2 concentration. 

We are pleased that our detectors perform well even in space. We hope, that more VIGO products will find use in this industry.

Link to the article