NSF Convergence Accelerator Track L: UAV-assisted dual-comb spectroscopic detection, localization, and quantification of multiple atmospheric trace-gas emissions

检测化学气体羽流对于监测空气质量很重要。该项目解决了检测、定位和量化气体排放和探测源的挑战性问题。在该研究项目下开发的新的化学传感技术将提供空气中化学品的三维(3D)定位，创建地图以解决具有高度社会重要性的各种微量气体传感应用。应用包括监测温室气体(例如，来自垃圾填埋场、废水处理厂、农业或其他工业的温室气体)、监测农业环境以增加产量、测量工业区附近社区暴露于有毒空气污染的情况，或实时评估灾区以向急救人员提供可采取行动的信息。除了技术和商业影响外，该项目还代表了基础物理、工程、应用数学和光学的独特结合，并将为各个教育层次的学生提供培训，从而为美国多样化和具有全球竞争力的STEM劳动力的发展做出巨大贡献。为了解决探测、定位和量化多种挥发性化学物质的气体羽流的挑战性问题，提出了一个创新的激光传感技术平台，提供3D空间浓度地图。这项技术将采用一种新型的基于芯片级联半导体量子级联激光频率梳(QCL-FCS)的双梳光谱(DCS)传感器系统，工作在中红外分子指纹光谱区域。这些新型激光光源既可提供多物种检测所需的宽带中红外覆盖范围，又可提供超高光谱分辨率，从而实现高化学选择性。QCL-DCS系统将被配置为一个基于后向反射器的光学遥感系统，集成了轻型无人机(UAV)提供的新型机器人能力，并与先进的大气流体动力学模型相结合，以协同提供一个强大的传感平台，使其能够在大范围内对多种化学源进行3D层析定位。最终，拟议的无人机辅助QCL-DCS传感平台将针对快速部署进行优化，并将通过可扩展的半导体制造和大规模部署实现成本效益，提供商业和政府部门都非常希望的质量。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Detecting chemical gas plumes is important for monitoring air quality. This project addresses the challenging problem of detecting, localizing and quantifying gas emissions and detecting sources. The novel chemical sensing technology developed under this research project will provide a three-dimensional (3D) localization of airborne chemicals, creating maps to address a broad variety of trace-gas sensing applications of high societal importance. Applications include the monitoring of greenhouse gas (e.g. from landfills, wastewater treatment plants, agriculture, or other industries), monitoring of farming environments to enrich yield, measuring exposure to toxic air pollution in communities located near industrial zones, or real-time assessment of disaster zones to provide actionable information to first responders. In addition to the technological and commercial impact, the project represents a unique mixture of fundamental physics, engineering, applied mathematics and optics, and will provide training for students at every level of educational ladder, thus contributing strongly to the development of a diverse and globally competitive STEM workforce in the US.To address the challenging problem of detecting, localizing and quantifying gas plumes of multiple volatile chemicals, an innovative laser sensing technology platform that offers 3D spatial concentration mapping is proposed. This technology will employ a novel dual-comb spectroscopic (DCS) sensor system based on chip-scale semiconductor quantum cascade laser frequency combs (QCL-FCs) operating in the mid-infrared molecular fingerprint spectral region. These new lasers sources provide both broadband mid-infrared coverage required for multi-species detection, and ultra‐high spectral resolution the enables high chemical selectivity. The QCL-DCS system will be configured into a retroreflector-based optical remote sensing system integrated with novel robotic capabilities provided by lightweight unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and coupled with advanced atmospheric fluid dynamics models to synergistically provide a powerful sensing platform that enables 3D tomographic localization of multiple chemical sources over large areas. Ultimately, the proposed UAV-assisted QCL-DCS sensing platform will be optimized for rapid deployments and will achieve cost-efficiency via scalable semiconductor manufacturing and large deployment footprints, offering qualities that are highly desired in both commercial and government sectors.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.