A Self-Contained Solar Radiation Measurement Package for Aircraft

"Sonoma Design Group proposes to design a rugged, highly stable,stand-alone instrument package for measuring solar fluxes andoptical depth from an airborne platform. This system will consistof a highly stabilized platform using a Fiber Optic Gyro (FOG)-based Inertial Navigation System (INS). This instrument packagewill house sensors, such as photometers and radiometers, andfeatures a new Shadow-Arm Solar Spectroradiomter (SASS) foroptical depth measurements. To reduce design and recurringproduction costs, we will integrate commercial products into thedesign where appropriate. The result will be a very capable,reusable system that will significantly reduce the cost ofpayload experiments. During the course of the Phase I effort weworked with industry experts to verify sensor selection andapplicability. The work culminated with a concept design andpreliminary layout for the stand-alone instrument package. PhaseII work will design and fabricate the instrument packagescomponents. System Integration and testing will be completeddemonstrating the instruments packages functional interfaces andperformance.BENEFITS: This stand-alone instrumentation package fills a general need for atmospheric research and monitoring programs. It provides a stabilized housing that readily accepts varied sensors and instruments, and its elegant and robust designachieves gimbal stability, thereby enhancing sensor performance. Stabilizing aircraft jitter in the sen