Smartphone Screen Integrated Optical Breathalyzer

Abstract

One third of fatal car accidents and so many tragedies are due to alcohol abuse. These sad numbers could be mitigated if everyone had access to a breathalyzer anytime and anywhere. Having a breathalyzer built into a phone or wearable technology could be the way to get around reluctance to carry a separate device. With this goal, we propose an inexpensive breathalyzer that could be integrated in the screens of mobile devices. Our technology is based on the evaporation rate of the fog produced by the breath on the phone screen, which increases with increasing breath alcohol content. The device simply uses a photodiode placed on the side of the screen to measure the signature of the scattered light intensity from the phone display that is guided through the stress layer of the Gorilla glass screen. A part of the display light is coupled to the stress layer via the evanescent field induced at the edge of the breath microdroplets. We demonstrate that the intensity signature measured at the detector can be linked to blood alcohol content. We fabricated a prototype in a smartphone case powered by the phone’s battery, controlled by an application installed on the smartphone, and tested it in real-world environments. Limitations and future work toward a fully operational device are discussed.

Fs laser written volume Raman–Nath grating for integrated spectrometer on smartphone

“…Turbidity level of water using Mie diffusion can be also measured as shown in 8 . An optical breathalyzer based on the difference in evaporation rate with alcohol content of the fog generated in breath, was as well demonstrated 9 . Spectroscopy systems capable of measuring the water pH level have been also demonstrated with a resolution of 0.305 nm/pixel 10 .…”

Factors Affecting the Usage of Wearable Device Technology for Healthcare among Indian Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…through smartphone screens. Combining deep neural network-machine learning technology with biological age estimation has further enhanced its feasibility and usage [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. In recent years, the world has seen a wave of adoption of wearable devices even among the middle to high-income socio-economic demographics.…”

Smartphone-Integrated Photoacoustic Analytical Device for Point-of-Care Testing of Food Contaminant Azodicarbonamide

“…17−19 For example, Lapointe et al developed an inexpensive breathalyzer that could be integrated in the screens of mobile devices for breath alcohol content detection at anytime and anywhere. 17 Kartakoullis et al successfully predicted minced meat composition by using a smartphone-based spectrometer, which was comparable with the benchtop spectrometer. 19 Photoacoustic (PA) detection is a useful and promising method that involves the interaction between the PA probe and target to generate the change of the PA signal for analysis and measurement.…”

“…With the widespread availability of smartphones in modern life, the integration of laser/light sensor-based devices in smartphones is increasingly popular in order to satisfy the demand for portability and on-site monitoring. − For example, Lapointe et al developed an inexpensive breathalyzer that could be integrated in the screens of mobile devices for breath alcohol content detection at anytime and anywhere . Kartakoullis et al successfully predicted minced meat composition by using a smartphone-based spectrometer, which was comparable with the benchtop spectrometer .…”