I'm designing a spectral-differencing sensor for use in high speed egg-grading machines, to detect blood spots in eggs. This is an interesting problem because it's dominated by nuisance data. Nuisance data are sample variations that produce a signal but aren't what we care about measuring. In this case, porphyrins in brown eggshells have strong absorption features that overlap those of haemoglobin.

After almost exactly three years waiting for a claim construction ruling, this case has gotten started again. I'm working on the trade secret side of a complicated suit arising out of a contemplated acquisition that wasn't completed.

I just shipped a proof-of-concept prototype for a fibre-coupled, grating-based transcutaneous short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectrometer. This was a fun one, and demonstrated once again the vital importance of a good photon budget to a successful instrument design. The right tradeoff of complexity, resolution, and stability was not at all obvious at the beginning. The photon budget made clear that with the right grating, the right number of illumination and detection fibres, and the right detector, we'd have an economical design with lots of light for the measurement. One key result of the photon budget was that we could use an uncooled extended (2.6 μm cutoff) InGaAs detector, but that it had to be stabilized near room temperature.

I've been retained in NTRI v LG Electronics et al., another optical disc patent infringement case.

Testifying defense expert in an action for patent infringement concerning solid-immersion microscopy and laser voltage measurement in semiconductors.
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