Real Time Parallel Channel Spectrometer for 3D Cloud Profiling

OPTRA is proposing the development of a 3D cloud profiling system that combines an innovative Imaging Open Path Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (I-OPFTIR) with advanced computational tomography algorithms. The proposed technology expands the capability of OP-FTIR systems to 3D profiling applications. It does this by adding a spatially dispersed array of sensors at the focal plane of a single interferometer. In this way, we maintain the high-performance of the OP-FTIR system without adding the bulk and expense of multiple systems. Moreover, the active measurement allows for detection when there would otherwise be zero contrast between the plume and background (a likely scenario for indoor test applications). System cost and weight will be further reduced by the use OPTRA’s lightweight, low-cost retroreflector array. OPTRA will partner with Dr. Lori Todd of the University of North Carolina. Dr. Todd and her associates at UNC’s School of Public Health have been applying infrared tomographic techniques to environmental monitoring applications for over ten years now and are the ideal partners for this STTR development The proposed system is an innovative and cost-effective means of profiling a chemical cloud in three dimensions. The proposed team represents decades of spectroscopic and tomographic experience