"UNOBTRUSIVE AIR CHEMISTRY DIAGNOSTICS FOR AURORA."

WE PROPOSE TO INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF USING IMPROVED AND ENHANCED VERSIONS OF A PREVIOUSLY DEMONSTRATED (BY OURSELVES) MICROWAVE-INTERFEROMETER TO PROVIDE A PERMANENTLY AVAILABLE, TURN-KEY, AND UNOBTRUSIVE AIR-CHEMISTRY DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM FOR AURORA. IN TASK 1 WE WILL DOWN-SELECT FROM A LARGE NUMBER OF IMPROVEMENTS, RANGING FROM EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE UPGRADES TO INCORPORATION OF IN-SITU CALIBRATION CAPABILITIES, AND ENHANCED MEASUREMENT CAPABILITIES, RANGING FROM MEASURING THE DEPENDENCE OF AIR-CHEMISTRY PARAMETERS ON APPLIED ELECTRIC FIELDS TO MEASURING DIELECTRIC- AND/OR SOIL-CHEMISTRY PARAMETERS. WE WILL ALSO CONSIDER TWO PHOTONIC TECHNIQUES, AN ELECTRO-OPTIC-RF- PROBE ENHANCEMENT OF THE MICROWAVE INTERFEROMETRY AND A LASER INTERFEROMETER, WHICH ARE ALSO HIGHLY LEVERAGED BY PREVIOUS AND ON-GOING WORK. BECAUSE OF OUR PREVIOUS WORK IN A VARIETY OF RELATED AREAS, AND BECAUSE CONSIDERABLE EQUIPMENT IS ALREADY ON HAND, TASK 2 WILL INCLUDE ACTUAL AURORA TESTS AND DEMONSTRATIONS, WHICH WILL BE PIGGY-BACKED ON SCHEDULED TESTING RUNS (AS WERE OUR PREVIOUS MEASUREMENTS), THUS DEMONSTRATING THE UNOBTRUSIVE NATURE OF THE DIAGNOSTIC(S). IN TASK 3 WE WILL GENERATE A COMPLETE PHASE-II DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM DESIGN.