Microwave
may
be
best
known
for
heating
food
in
your
oven
and
telecomm
transmission,
but
it
also
makes
a
powerful
analytical
tool.
In
the
last
10
years,
microwave
spectroscopy
was
invented;
however,
such
devices
are
bulky
and
energy
inefficient.
Professor
Carolyn
Ren
(Department
of
Mechanical
and
Mechatronics
Engineering)
tasked
her
graduate
students
to
miniaturize
the
microwave
sensor
and
combine
it
with
a
microfluidic
device
to
fingerprint
liquid
properties.
After
several
years
of
experimentation,
this
development
culminated
with
a
research
paper
in
2013
(Lab
on
a
Chip,
2013,
13,
3840),
which
was
chosen
by
the
editor
for
the
journal
edition’s
cover
page.
QuantWave
Technologies
Inc.,
was
founded
in
December
2016
by
Professor
Ren
and
two
former
graduate
students
from
the
University
of
Waterloo,
Alex
Chen,
PhD,
and
Michael
Wang,
who
brought
in
industrial
experience
in
commercialization
and
applications.
The
company
was
created
to
pursue
the
growing
demands
of
intelligent
sensing
for
industrial
IoT
applications.
QuantWave
aims
to
improve
the
quality
of
industrial
manufacturing
processes
and
finished
products,
minimize
the
capital
and
operational
costs
as
well
as
to
provide
optimal
decision-making
tools
by
developing
a
real-time, AI-powered
and
multi-parameter
intelligent
sensing
system.
The
company
integrates
microfluidics
and
high-frequency
microwave
technologies
with
AI
algorithms
to
provide
online
monitoring
and
predictive
data
analytics
for
a
variety
of
industrial
liquids,
with
an
initial
focus
on
water,
dairy
products
and
beverages.
For
example,
Quantwave
has
developed
sensors
capable
of
monitoring
biological
oxygen
demand,
chemical
oxygen
demand,
conductivity,
turbidity,
and
orthophosphate
and
other
parameters
in
wastewater,
and
for
testing
milk
for
total
fats,
proteins,
solids
in
real
time.
Both
applications
have
been
successfully
demonstrated
at
the
pilot
scale
with
industrial
partners.
