The goal of this work was the development of a device (FLUPO) for the detection of antibodies induced by bacterial or viral diseases of livestock by using blood samples (sera). The serum is mixed with proteins marked with a fluorescent molecule (Fluorescein) that bind specifically to antibodies of the blood. A diagnosis, healthy or ill, can be established based on the polarisation of the reflected light.

Besides the optical construction for the measurement of the fluorescence light, the emphasis of our work was also on data acquisition and measurement control with a microcontroller, and the realisation of PDA-based graphic user interface.

The optical setup is mounted on a self constructed aluminium structure. For shielding against external light the system is enclosed in a wooden box. FLUPO is controlled with an instrumentation microcontroller which is especially designed for data acquisition. A Bluetooth link is implemented to interface the microcontroller with the PDA.

The user, for example a veterinary surgeon, can control the measurement with his PDA and the results are visualized on its display. Measurement modes can be varied to suit most applications. All results are written in a text file and can be evaluated with a standard calculation table.

FLUPO is reaching the precision of todays very expensive laboratory instruments. But with its simple optics FLUPO is much cheaper and the operation with a PDA is setting new standards for the userfriendlyness of portable instruments.

In model experiments sera of infected livestock were clearly identified as such.