Single Photon Range Imaging for Natural Gas Sensing SPRINGS

天然气传感是一个不断增长的市场，预计到2022年，仅油气泄漏检测一项就将增长至34亿美元。天然气泄漏每年给企业造成300亿美元的损失，但现有技术的特点限制了检测这些泄漏的能力。斯普林斯项目致力于开发一种量子激光雷达(LIDAR)，能够在200米的操作距离内探测到该行业所需的最低浓度的天然气泄漏。这比我们最接近的竞争对手的感光度提高了10倍，并实现了快速扫描和成像。它重量轻，功耗低，为石油天然气和废物管理行业开启了新的应用，并提供了前所未有的每小时30英里的测量速度。为了确保长期领先地位，我们还将开发一款量子增强型原型，将我们带到中红外波长，进一步提高10倍的性能。这为其他气体种类打开了可能性，并开启了石油和天然气勘探和爆炸物远程探测等应用领域。

Gas sensing is a growing market, with Oil & Gas leak detection alone expected to grow to $3.4Bn in 2022. Natural gas leaks cost companies $30Bn per year, the ability to detect these leaks is limited by the characteristics of existing technologies. The SPRINGS project sets out to develop a quantum-inspired laser radar (LIDAR) capable of detecting the lowest concentration of natural gas leaks required by the industry out to a 200 metres operational distance. This brings a 10-fold sensitivity improvement over our closest competitor and enables fast scanning and imaging. It is lightweight and low-power and unlocks new applications for Oil & Gas and waste management industries, and it delivers an unprecedented 30 miles per hour surveying speed. To ensure long-term leadership, we will also develop a quantum-enhanced prototype, taking us to mid-IR wavelengths, for a further 10-fold performance gain. This opens up the possibility for other gas species and unlocks applications such as Oil & Gas exploration and remote detection of explosives.