SILICON PHOTONIC SMOKE DETECTOR
A chamberless smoke detector includes a source laser, a grating coupler, a transmitting optical phase array, a receiving optical phase array, and a processing unit.
1 . A chamberless smoke detector comprising a source laser, a grating coupler, a transmitting optical phase array, a receiving optical phase array, and a processing unit.
2 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 1 , wherein the grating coupler, transmitting optical phase array, receiving optical phase array and processing units are elements of a silicon photonics circuit.
3 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 2 , wherein the source laser is a component of the silicon photonics circuit.
4 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 2 , wherein the source laser is external to the silicon photonics circuit.
5 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting optical phase array comprises thermal heaters.
6 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 1 , wherein the receiving optical phase array comprises thermal heaters.
7 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting optical phase array comprises greater than or equal to eight (8) elements.
8 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 1 , wherein the receiving optical phase array comprises greater than or equal to eight (8) elements.
9 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting optical phase array and the receiving optical phase array comprise the same number of elements.
10 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 1 , wherein the grating coupler has a focusing grating with a size less than or equal to 630 nanometers.
11 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting optical phase array has a tree-branch architecture.
12 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 1 , wherein the receiving optical phase array has a tree-branch architecture.
13 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 1 , wherein the source laser has a wavelength of 900 to 1550 nanometers.
14 . The chamberless smoke detector of claim 1 , wherein the field of view is greater than or equal to 25 degrees.
15 . A method for detecting smoke comprising emitting photons from a transmitting optical phase array on a silicon photonics circuit into an area, receiving photons from the area with a receiving optical phase array on the silicon photonics circuit, and comparing the emitted photons to the received photons using a processing unit.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein comparing the emitted photons to the received photons comprises using an algorithm to distinguish smoke from objects and people.