NO2 Analyzer for Miniature Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Phase I

In this Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) effort, Los Gatos Research (LGR) proposes to employ incoherent Cavity Ringdown Spectroscopy (iCRDS) to develop a compact, cost-effective nitrogen dioxide (NO2) analyzer for deployment aboard miniature unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This portable instrument will provide rapid (1 Hz), highly accurate (to better than ± 1 ppbv) quantification of NO2 with minimal external calibration or consumables gases. Moreover, due to the inherent benefits of iCRDS, the analyzer will be selective, robust, and economical. The resulting instrument will allow researchers in NASA's Earth Science Division to use miniature UAV deployments to complement satellite observations on the Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) mission. The in-situ data will provide higher spatial resolution and vertical profiling near the highly inhomogeneous NO2 sources, as well as providing correction factors for GEO-CAPE coastal measurements. More »