Pollution radar

Leicester University has teamed up with Surrey Satellite Technology and EADS Astrium to create an air-quality measuring device that can be used as a ‘pollution radar’ over cities.

The Compact Air Quality Spectrometer (CompAQS) is one of the projects currently being developed at the UK's Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation (CEOI). The device operates in the ultra violet and visible (UV/VIS) part of the spectrum to provide details of gases in the atmosphere.

Leading the project, Prof Paul Monks from Leicester University said: ‘The instrument has been developed for potential deployment as a small satellite payload and provides the performance of current, comparable instruments, which are significantly larger in size. Its compact size, achieved through the use of a novel optical design, means that the costs of manufacture, platform development and launch can be minimised.’

The team is currently working on two CompAQS instruments that will be constructed and configured for use as a ground-based Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) system at Leicester University.