I-Corps: Infrared Lidar System

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是通过引入红外和人眼安全激光雷达（lidar）技术进行高灵敏度远程羽流表征，减少或消除财产损失，保护公众健康和安全。该技术有潜力满足各种应用领域的客户需求，包括：野火的早期检测；跟踪农药在农业环境中的漂移；跟踪民用和军事环境中空气毒素和污染物的扩散和运输情况；以及检测工业环境中的排放和泄漏。激光雷达已经成功渗透到一系列市场，包括测距仪、速度监测器、3D成像和测量系统、机场和气象中心的云顶高度测量，以及最近用于风能应用中的远程风测量。成功地将激光雷达系统引入新市场可以产生重大的经济、安全和健康影响。I-Corps项目利用紧凑型人眼安全红外激光雷达技术，开发用于高灵敏度大气气溶胶或目标微量气体的远程表征。该系统利用强大的红外激光发射器，如半导体激光器、光纤激光器或量子级联激光器，在人眼安全水平下工作，同时实现高探测灵敏度。由于这些源对人眼是不可见的，因此它们不会干扰机械或飞机的操作员，并且可以广泛部署。该系统建立在刚性碳纤维平台上，以增加其在广泛环境温度范围内的稳健性。激光器在脉冲模式下工作，脉冲持续时间在纳秒范围内，脉冲重复率高达几十千赫兹。激光雷达接收部分采用最先进的红外探测器以及硬件和软件信号处理，以达到所需的性能水平。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to reduce or eliminate damage/loss of property and protect public health and safety by introducing infrared and eye-safe laser radar (lidar) technology for high sensitivity remote plume characterization. The technology has the potential to meet a diverse range of customer sectors for such applications including: early detection of wildfires; tracking pesticides drift in agricultural settings; tracking dispersion and transport of air toxins and pollutants in civilian and military settings; and detecting emissions and leaks in industrial settings. Lidar has already successfully penetrated a range of markets including range finders, speed monitors, 3D imaging and surveying systems, cloud ceiling height measurement at airports and weather centers, and most recently for remote wind measurements in wind energy applications. Successful introduction of laser radar systems to new markets can have significant economic, safety and health impacts.This I-Corps project capitalizes on compact eye-safe infrared lidar technology developed for remote characterization of atmospheric aerosols or target trace gases with high sensitivity. The systems utilize robust infrared laser transmitters such as semiconductor lasers, fiber lasers, or quantum cascade lasers, operating at eye-safe levels, and yet achieving high detection sensitivities. Because these sources are invisible to the human eye, they do not interfere with operators of machinery or aircraft and can be broadly deployed. The systems are built on a rigid carbon fiber platform to add to their robustness in a broad range of ambient temperatures. The lasers operate in the pulsed mode with pulse duration in the nanosecond range and at high pulse repetition rates to tens of kilohertz. The lidar receiver section employs state-of-the-art infrared detectors together with hardware and software signal processing to achieve required performance levels.