A nanostructured optical fibre-based thin film sensor was designed for non-invasive, fast and reliable monitoring of respiratory airflow. Molecular-level self-assembly processing method was used to form multi-layered inorganic nanocluster and polymer thin films on the distal ends of optical fibres to form such sensors. In order to optimize the sensing performance, an analytical model based on the condensation of exhaled water vapour on the coating surface was established for the breathing analysis. By varying thin film chemistry the physically small sensors offer high sensitivity to breathing air in terms of variations in the reflected optical power. Moreover, the sensor performances in comparison with a medical nasal thermistor suggest such a thin film sensor is an excellent device for advanced breathing airflow monitoring.

Microwave receiver is a special equipment used to receive radio signals in radio telescope. The noise temperature of receiver is an important target to test sensitivity. The lower the noise temperature is, the higher the sensitivity is. Therefore, the measurement of noise temperature is very important. The classical cold and ambient load method can measure noise temperature well, but it can not be carried out during observation. In addition, the performance of microwave devices is not unchanged, and noise temperature will vary with the ambient temperature and test equipment, so real-time measurement of noise temperature is important. We set up a noise temperature measurement system based on normal and high temperature load method. Through this system, noise temperature can be calculated by measuring the radiation power and temperature of blackbody at normal temperature and after heating to 150°C. Compared with results of the cold and ambient load method, the maximum test error is 12.3% in five tests, and the other test errors are less than 10%. The results can confirm that the normal and high temperature load method could be hopeful to satisfy the normal test requirements of centimeter-band normal temperature receiver.