Aerodyne Research, Inc.
Center for Sensor Systems and Technology

 

The Center for Sensor Systems and Technology (CSST) develops, utilizes and delivers innovative sensor systems for deployment utilizing ARI-invented technology. CSST, formerly known as the Center for Materials Technology, has evolved into a center which focuses on creating proprietary sensor technologies and systems. CSST develops sensor packages which typically include easy-to-use data analysis software, allowing for easy integration of the sensor by the customer. Systems can be supplied in either computer-controlled or stand-alone push-button versions. Recent customers include the National Archives and Records Administration, the Naval Postgraduate School, the Departments of Energy and Defense, the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Sensor System Examples

CSST developed, built and delivered a non-intrusive, optical monitor capable of both monitoring the level of humidity and and detecting air leaks by measuring trace amounts of oxygen within the argon-filled, hermetically sealed enclosures which house the nation's Charters of Freedom (Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights). Coupled to the encasements using optical fibers, the sensor system utilizes proprietary spectroscopic sensor technology developed by Aerodyne for the measurement of both water vapor and oxygen. It is currently being used by National Archives and Records Administration personnel to ascertain the environmental integrity of the newly-dedicated encasements. (Photo) (Photo)

The high speed (10 Hz frequency response), autonomously-operated, humidity sensor is designed to provide highly accurate atmospheric water vapor (humidity) measurements on board research aircraft. Deployed on board a Twin Otter aircraft operated by the Navy's Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) located at the Naval Postgraduate School, this sensor has successfully provided accurate water vapor measurements in both clear air and within cloud boundaries without any hysteresis. It has been shown to provide far more accurate humidity profiles than competing technologies. (Ref)

CSST has developed two versions of a plant health monitor which is sensitive to the photosynthetic activity of green plants and thus to their "health". One system relies on the passive detection of sunlight-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, utilizing a patented technology which allows the sensor to operate in the presence of ambient sunlight which would otherwise provide an insurmountable interference. (Diagram) (Ref)  A second system incorporates its own light source in order to induce the chlorophyll fluorescence. (Photo)  Both systems are capable of providing measurements on single leaves or plant canopies.

Argon-filled insulated glass (IG) windows are currently filled and shipped without testing for window seal integrity. CSST personnel, using patented technology for the detection of gaseous oxygen, built and demonstrated a non-intrusive, non-contact sensor system to detect the unwanted inflow of air into the window unit. This sensor system was designed with input from the IG window manufacturing industry to ensure compatibility with its testing procedures. (Photo) 

CSST has undertaken two distinct sensor system technology projects in order to meet the nation's need for improved biothreat detection capability. The first, funded by the National Institutes of Health, incorporates a proprietary application of quartz crystal microbalances in order to provide nanogram-level detection of bioagents such as bacteria, viruses and toxins. The second, funded by the Army Research Office, involves the real-time detection of airborne bioagents using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Intended for battlefield deployment, the sensor system will utilize proprietary aerosol focusing technology in order to concentrate the sample.

Aerodyne Research has developed a number of successful partnerships with private industry with the goal of producing commercially available instrumentation and sensor systems. Generally involving Aerodyne-proprietary technology, these partnerships typically entail close technical and business working relationships. Prospective partners and collaborators should contact Dr. Freedman, CSST Director or Dr. Charles E. Kolb, President of Aerodyne Research, Inc.

For more information contact:
Dr. Andrew Freedman, Center Director
Phone: 978-663-9500, Ext. 296
Fax: 978-663-4918
e-mail: af@aerodyne.com

ARI can draw on the expertise of a multi-disciplinary staff in order to solve customers' problems. In addition, Aerodyne can call on a number of distinguished university faculty to provide both consulting services and collaborative research.

Andrew Freedman, Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Freedman serves as Director of the Center for Sensor Systems and Technology. His work has focused on a broad range of studies which encompass interfacial phenomena relevant to environmental chemistry, semiconductor processing, and biothreat detection. He has also been responsible for developing many of the technologies discussed above, including the trace oxygen and humidity sensing systems, plant health monitor and IG window seal integrity monitor.

Paul L. Kebabian, Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Kebabian has pioneered the development of novel systems for measuring methane, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide using novel rare gas discharge lasers. His optical engineering expertise has lead to innovative sensors for chlorophyll fluorescence, nitrogen dioxide, molecular oxygen and water vapor. He holds several ARI patents including ones for the Astigmatic Multipass Absorption Cell, Water Vapor and Oxygen Monitors, Plant Fluorescence Sensor, and Hyperspectral Polarimeter.

David K. Lewis, Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, Cornell University

Dr. Lewis has extensive experience in gas phase chemical kinetics, modeling kinetic processes, ultrahigh resolution infrared spectroscopy and instrument design for chemical analyses. His work at the Center is focused on the sampling of aerosol particles in ambient air and the characterization of those particles by optical methods including absorption and emission spectroscopy and laser light scattering. Dr. Lewis is also the Margaret W. Kelly Professor of Chemistry at Connecticut College in New London, CT., where he teaches courses in physical and analytical chemistry and instrumental methods of analysis and directs a research program in high temperature gas phase kinetics.

Ziman Li, Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, Boston University

Dr. Li joined Aerodyne in February 2006. For her previous research, she investigated the dynamics of collisional relaxation and chemical reactions of vibrationally excited molecules by setting up and utilizing a transient IR absorption spectrometer and also using classical trajectory simulations. She is currently interested in the quantitation of chemicals in vapor phase using GC/MS and Quartz Crystal Micro-balance.

Joda Wormhoudt, Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Wormhoudt's work has focused on the use of spectroscopically-based diagnostics to determine species concentrations in applications as diverse as the monitoring of combustion flows, semiconductor processing environments and space-based life support systems. Dr. Wormhoudt has utilized laser spectroscopic techniques to quantify the concentrations of pollutants in aircraft engine exhausts, the pyrolytic evolution of nitrogen oxides from soils contaminated with energetic materials and the measurement of in situ soil contaminant levels. At present, he is focusing on the analytical uses of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for alloy analysis and biothreat detection

Stephen Jones, M.S., Electrical Engineering, Northeastern University

Mr. Jones is an expert in the areas of image and signal processing and computational intelligence methods, as well as being heavily involved in sensor system integration. He is developing a patented land-, vehicle-, or space-borne hyperspectral polarimeter with applications in military remote sensing, atmospheric aerosol characterization, and plant canopy architectural discrimination. He is also developing an airborne, high speed, infrared sensor capable of providing sub-pixel resolution.

David B. Stickler, Ph.D, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Stickler has an extensive background in fundamental combustion science, which provides a base for development of innovative concepts for thermal systems. Recent technology innovations include advanced glass synthesis; low emission coal combustion and power system integration; hybrid rocket fuel burn rate enhancement; forced unsteady combustion for gas turbine emission control; and gas turbine blade cooling. He also provides technical support for industrial implementation of these technologies.

James B. Woodroffe, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Woodroffe is Vice President for New Products at Aerodyne and has the primary responsibility of identifying and developing new business and product opportunities. His expertise is in matching market needs with the available technology, a skill that has been gained through competence in understanding both markets and technologies ranging from industrial fluid and combustion systems to high tech sensor systems.

"Optical extinction monitor using cw cavity enhanced detection," P.L. Kebabian, W.A. Robinson, and A. Freedman, Rev. Sci. Instru. 78, 063102 (9), 2007.

"Fluoropolymer-based capacitive carbon dioxide sensor," P.L. Kebabian, A. Freedman, Meas. Sci. Technol., 17:703-710, (2006).

"Determination of carbon in steel by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy using a microchip laser and miniature spectrometer," J. Wormhoudt, F.J. Iannarilli, S. Jones, K.D. Annen, A. Freedman, Appl. Spectrosc. 59, 1098-1102, (2005).

"Aluminum alloy analysis using microchip-laser induced breakdown spectroscopy," A. Freedman, F.J. Iannarilli Jr., J.C. Wormhoudt, Spectrochim. Acta B 60, 1076-1082 (2005).

"Detection of Nitrogen Dioxide by Cavity Attenuated Phase Shift Spectroscopy," P.L. Kebabian, S.C. Herndon, A. Freedman, Anal. Chem. 77, 724-728 (2005)

"Measurement of Trace Water Vapor in a Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly Product Stream," J. Wormhoudt, J.H. Shorter, J.B. McManus, D.D. Nelson, M.S. Zahniser, A. Freedman, International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES) July 19-22, 2004, Colorado Springs, CO,  Paper No. 2004-01-2444.

"Use of a Prototype Instrument to Detect Short-Term Changes in Solar-Excited Leaf Fluorescence," G.A. Carter, A. Freedman, P.L. Kebabian, H.E. Scott,  Int. J. Remote Sensing, 25:1779-1784 (2004)

"Detection of Increased Solar-Excited Leaf Fluorescence with Exposure to Herbicide in Corn and Soybean", G.A. Carter, A. Freedman, P.L. Kebabian and H.E. Scott, Int. J. Remote Sensing, in press

"Determination of Argon-Filled Insulated Glass Window Seal Failure by Spectroscopic Detection of Oxygen", P.L. Kebabian, R.R. Romano and A. Freedman, Meas. Sci. Technol. 14:983–988  (2003)

"Analysis of Humidity Halos Around Trade Wind Cumulus Clouds", M.L. Lu, J. Wang, A. Freedman, H. H. Jonsson, R. C. Flagan, R. A. McClatchey, and J. H. Seinfeld, J. Atmos. Sciences 60:1041-1059 (2003)

"Remote Sensing of Solar-Illuminated Plant Fluorescence as a Measure Of Photosynthesis Rate", A.Freedman, J. Cavender-Bares, P.L. Kebabian, R. Bhaskar, H. Scott, and F.A. Bazzaz, Photosynthetica, 40:127-132 (2002).

"Spectroscopic Water Vapor Sensor For Rapid Response Measurements of Humidity In The Troposphere", P.L. Kebabian, C.E. Kolb, and A. Freedman, J. Geophys. Res., 107(D23), 4670, doi:10.1029/2001JD002003 (2002).

"Fluorescence sensor watches over plants," R. Gaughan, Biophotonics Technology Solutions, January/February, 18 (2001).

"A Novel Gas Correlation Sensor for the Detection of Nitrogen Dioxide", P.L. Kebabian, K. Annen, T. Berkoff, and A. Freedman, Meas. Sci. Technol. 11:499-503 (2000)

"Spectroscopic Humidity Sensor for the Space Station", P.L. Kebabian and A. Freedman, SAE Technical Paper Series, 2000-01-2306, 30th International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), Toulouse, France, July 2000

"Polarimetric Spectral Intensity Modulation (P-SIM): Enabling simultaneous hyperspectral and polarimetric imaging," F.J. Iannarilli, S.H. Jones, H.E. Scott, and P. Kebabian, Proc. SPIE 3698 (1999).

"A Passive Two-Band Sensor of Sunlight-Excited Plant Fluorescence", P. Kebabian, A. Theisen, S. Kallelis, and A. Freedman, Rev. Sci. Instrumen. 70:4386-4393 (1999) (PDF) Copyright 1999 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. Article available from AIP.

"Passive Two-Band Plant Fluorescence Sensor With Applications In Precision Agriculture", P.L. Kebabian, A.F. Theisen, S. Kallelis, H.E. Scott, and A. Freedman, SPIE Proc. 3542: 238 (1999)

"Water Vapor Sensing Using Polarization Selection of a Zeeman-Split Argon Discharge Lamp Emission Line", P.L. Kebabian, T.A. Berkoff, and A. Freedman, J. Meas. Sci. Technol., 9:1793 (1998)

"Explosives Detection: A Challenge for Physical Chemistry," J.I. Steinfeld and J. Wormhoudt, Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem. 49:203-232 (1998).

"Embedded Infrared Fiber Optic Absorption Studies of Nitramine Propellant Strand Burning," J. Wormhoudt, P.L. Kebabian, and C.E. Kolb, Combustion and Flame, 111:73 (1997).

Tunable Infrared Laser Detection of Pyrolysis Products of Explosives in Soils," J. Wormhoudt, et al., Applied Optics, 35:3992 (1996).

Polarimetric Spectral Intensity Modulation Spectropolarimeter, U.S. Patent 6,490,043 B1, Paul L. Kebabian (issued 12/3/2002)

"Optical Monitor for Water Vapor Concentration", U.S. Patent #5,760,895, Paul L. Kebabian (issued 6/2/1998)

"Non-Dispersive Optical Monitor for Nitrogen-Oxygen Compounds", U.S. Patent 5,818,598, Paul L. Kebabian,(issued Oct. 6, 1998)

"Optical Oxygen Concentration Monitor," U.S. Patent #5,650,845, Paul L. Kebabian (issued 7/22/1997)

"Spectral Line Discriminator for Passive Detection of Fluorescence", #5,567,947, Paul L. Kebabian (issued Oct. 22, 1996) 

Aerodyne Research, Inc.  45 Manning Road Billerica, MA  01821-3976  978 663-9500