[DIYbio] Re: Open-Source Spectrometer

Dear DIY folk,

I'm trying to lock down the requirements for an open-source
spectrometer, which I and colleagues will likely design in the coming
months if we can gauge that there is a decent market to make our
engineering time back with a few sales. At first glance we've
estimated that it will cost between $300-$700, . The price could be
flexible depending on customers desired configuration (e.g.
ethernet/no-ethernet, high-res version/low-res version, plastic
case/metal case, etc... basically anything that could be omitted from
the final design if it would lower cost and was desired)

Our general specs:
fiber-coupled
2048 or 3648 pixel array detector
USB and/or ethernet for data transfer

What we'd like to hear from you:
If you were going to spend $500 on a spectrometer,what would you want
it to do/have

Would kits be an option, or only assembled units? (or wired but not in
a box, for robot hobbyists looking to build a fire-fighting bot that
seeks out spectral signatures of burning materials!)

How often would you want a reading? e.g.... Would it be really fast
(1-10 times per second) for looking at fast chemical reactions? Or
more like one-shot/once-in-a-while, for things with a stable spectrum
(getting DNA/RNA concentrations, cell culture density, etc)

What kind of data connection would you want? USB and ethernet come to
my mind, but lots of connections are possible. The data link could be
a bottle neck if you want to stream readings quickly, so this ties in
with the previous question.

Let me know what you think.
-Nathan

--
Nathan McCorkle
Rochester Institute of Technology
College of Science, Biotechnology/Bioinformatics