iSPEX: smartphone spectropolarimetry in people’s hands

The research challenge

Spectropolarimetry normally belongs to specialised instruments and controlled procedures. iSPEX investigated whether a small optical add-on and smartphone could support much wider participation in measurements related to atmospheric aerosols and, in later work, water-leaving reflectance.

The challenge was not simply attaching an optic to a phone. Participants needed an acquisition procedure, device software, processing and a backend capable of preserving the scientific context of each contribution.

Pocket Science’s contribution

DDQ built the iPhone implementation and contributed mobile applications, backend services, processing work, distribution and field deployment with scientific and institutional partners. The atmospheric campaign established iSPEX publicly; the deeper value is the scientific and technical lineage that continued afterwards.

Later Horizon 2020 MONOCLE work investigated an updated iSPEX approach for water observation, including processing-chain work and international field activities. Current hardware availability and measurement claims must be assessed for each proposed use; iSPEX is a research lineage, not a generic off-the-shelf promise.

The participant experience

A complex optical method had to become a sequence that a non-specialist could perform: attach the instrument, orient the phone, acquire data under suitable conditions and send the observation with the necessary context. Clear guidance and failure handling were as important as the numerical processing.

Scientific evidence

Why we cared

iSPEX contains almost everything we love about Pocket Science: an elegant physical idea, serious optical science, software that has to respect the instrument, and thousands of people looking at an ordinary sky differently because they can suddenly investigate it. Working on the app, processing and field campaigns meant becoming fascinated by the light itself—without confusing that fascination with ownership of the underlying science.

The transferable capability

iSPEX demonstrates how Pocket Science works at the boundary of physical instrumentation, mobile software, calibration, processing, participant guidance and research infrastructure. It also demonstrates why claims must remain tied to the specific method, device generation and validation context.

What this demonstrates

This project is part of the evidence behind Pocket Science’s custom development work. If your research requires a participant-facing method, scientific sensing, classification or production data infrastructure, tell us what you are trying to make possible.