Lightweight Ozone Photometer for Balloons and Unmanned Aircraft

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes to design, build, and test a laboratory pre-prototype of an optical absorption photometer for balloon-borne and unmanned aircraft sounding of the stratosphere and troposphere. The device will use short-path UV absorption and high-precision signal processing circuitry to enable high- sensitivity, absolute determinations of ozone concentrations from the ground to 40 km. Laboratory tests in Phase I will evaluate the instrument sensitivity and operating characteristics for reduced optical path and three alternative noise-canceling signal processing concepts. The end result of Phase I will be a working design of a prototype flight instrument to be built and flown in Phase II.