Advanced Hardware and Software for Monitoring Contamination

An instrumentation system measures the concentrations of three principal contaminants (nonvolatile residue, hydrocarbon vapor, and particle fallout) in real time. The system includes a computer running special-purpose application software that makes it possible to connect the system into a network (which can, in turn, be connected to the Internet) to enable both local and remote display and analysis of its readings. The system was developed for use in a Kennedy Space Center facility that was required to be maintained at a specified high degree of cleanliness for processing a spacecraft payload that was highly sensitive to contamination. The system is also adaptable to monitoring contamination in other facilities and is an example of an emerging generation of sophisticated instrumentation systems that communicate data with other equipment.