Optical Pressure Sensor For Biomedical Applications

The key features of the new FBG sensor design are:

• Small size: currently 200 µm with potential to be even smaller;
• Greater pressure resolution than competing FBG sensors of comparable size;
• Non-electrical (i.e. functional in biological tissue) and biocompatible
• Immune to electromagnetic interference and therefore potentially compatible with MRI procedures; and
• High spatial resolution allowing pressure distributions to be mapped.

This technology has applications as a novel sensor device for cerebrospinal fluid pressure, muscle compartment pressure, arterial blood pressure and other applications where small pressures magnitudes must be measured with a minimally invasive sensor.

FBG sensors fill an emerging need in the medical devices market. This market is in a phase of intense growth due to the clinical need to accurately diagnose pathologies with minimally invasive tools. This opportunity could provide a company with exclusive rights to the intellectual property and/or a collaborative research arrangement with the University of Victoria.