Invention:
This technology is a polarimeter in the long-wave infrared domain of the electromagnetic spectrum. These devices are able to distinguish between ice and liquid water. Therefore, this device could serve to observe natural phenomena such as glacial melt or be used in solar system exploration when identifying water, in solid or liquid form, on other celestial bodies. Additionally, such a device could be useful in autonomous vehicles to inform the vehicle about road conditions and best practices.
This technology also possesses the capacity to impact the aerospace industry by providing an automatic alternative to combating aircraft icing in flight. The aerospace industry has very few options for preventing/remedying aircraft icing in an automatic fashion (not requiring pilot inputs) and that is important due to icing presenting a safety hazard in-flight for crew, passengers, and cargo.
Background:
Previously, compact LWIR camera systems were not feasible as the architecture required to operate such a system included bulky cooling systems. However, in recent years uncooled microbolometers have made it possible to reduce the size of LWIR systems. Therefore, such devices have become more easily integrated into a number of systems. These could include CubeSat missions run by NASA to survey Earth’s atmosphere, or integration into autonomous vehicles, or even employment in defense target sensing. In each of these applications, the real-estate of such a device is imperative to remain as minimal as possible. In this way, the proposed technology is novel in its applicability to different applications.
Applications:
- Near space observation
- Autonomous vehicles
- Target detection
- Aerospace industry
- Aerospace parts manufacturing industry
Advantages:
- Compact
- Can differentiate between liquid and solid states of water at or near the freeze point
- Ability to be integrated in many systems
