Wide-Area Chemical Sensor

The detection and localization of gas releases, such as methane from leaking natural gas pipelines or nitrogen oxides from failing electrical equipment, require high sensitivity to the target gas and insensitivity to non-target gases. Infrared (IR) absorption spectroscopy gives highly specific characterization of the identity and amount of airborne chemicals. Traditionally, spectroscopy techniques for long-range chemical sensing separate the “sensitive to x gas” and “insensitive to x gas” atmospheric measurements by quickly switching back and forth between them to reduce errors caused by any atmospheric changes. Because the samples are not measured at the same time, it is impossible to ensure that all atmospheric conditions (e.g., contaminants or humidity) remain constant between the two measurements.