Towards Commoditised Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Abstract

Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) is a sensing technique in which near infrared light is transmitted into a sample, followed by light absorbance measurements at various wavelengths. This technique enables the inference of the inner chemical composition of the scanned sample, and therefore can be used to identify or classify objects. In this paper, we describe how to facilitate the use of NIRS by nonexpert users in everyday settings. Our work highlights the key challenges of placing NIRS devices in the hands of nonexperts. We develop a system to mitigate these challenges, and evaluate it in a user study. We show how NIRS technology can be successfully utilised by untrained users in an unsupervised manner through a special enclosure and an accompanying smartphone app. Finally, we discuss potential future developments of commoditised NIRS.

Assisted Medication Management in Elderly Care Using Miniaturised Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

“…While we built the scan library in controlled conditions with stable temperature and humidity, in practice these factors would only impact the result in extreme conditions, such as a tropical climate. Another aspect that may influence the accuracy in real world usage is poor sample positioning, however previous work has shown how this can be alleviated through good design of sample holders and assistive software [29]. Yet, we established that the sample holder in our user study still had room for improvements, as small number of pills where placed in suboptimal positions.…”

“…This has enabled a range of interesting use cases in areas such as detecting food allergens or determining food quality [32] and chemical analysis of pharmaceutical excipients grinded to a powder state [2,59]. Klakegg et al [29] explored how miniaturised NIRS devices could be commoditised for non-expert end users. They conducted a study where participants utilised a custom 3D printed enclosure and accompanying smartphone app to identify different types of samples.…”

“…This would enable us to determine potential difficulties in the distribution of patients' medicine, which could be mitigated with miniaturised NIRS. Previous work has already demonstrated how untrained novice users are able to utilise miniaturised NIRS [29]. Therefore, in this work we set to explore how the technology could be integrated into the care centre and other scenarios.…”

“…A list of four main impact areas of miniaturised NIRS in elderly care was derived from the user study. Furthermore, previous work has already demonstrated that it is feasible for novice end users to utilise this advanced instrument via a 3D printed casing for the miniaturised NIRS and an accompanying smartphone application aimed at guiding the scanning process [29]. This system could be modified to fit a care environment, with targeted functionality, such as built in patient medication lists, automated drug interaction checks and data encryption [36].…”

“…This dramatic drop in cost encourages us to consider everyday scenarios for this technology, and for the first time put it in the hands of non-expert endusers. Furthermore, coupling NIRS hardware with commodity devices (tablets, smartphones) opens a range of exciting research avenues to explore [29].…”