Bridger Photonics, Inc.

Other

Michael James Thorpe

Aaron Thomas Kreitinger

Peter Roos

Jason Brasseur

Randy Ray Reibel

Stephen C Crouch

Christopher Ray Wilson

Nathan Joseph Greenfield

Seth Kreitinger

Measurement apparatuses and methods are disclosed for generating high-precision and-accuracy gas concentration maps that can be overlaid with 3D topographic images by rapidly scanning one or several modulated laser beams with a spatially-encoded transmitter over a scene to build-up imagery. Independent measurements of the topographic target distance and path-integrated gas concentration are combined to yield a map of the path-averaged concentration between the sensor and each point in the image. This type of image is particularly useful for finding localized regions of elevated (or anomalous) gas concentration making it ideal for large-area leak detection and quantification applications including: oil and gas pipeline monitoring, chemical processing facility monitoring, and environmental monitoring.

High-sensitivity gas-mapping 3D imager and method of operation

Apparatuses systems and methods for gas emission rate detection sensitivity and probability of detection (PoD) based on emission rate. A measurement system may be characterized by its ability to detect gas plumes as a function of the emission rate of those plumes. The measurement system may be characterized based on a generalized PoD function which expresses PoD relative to emission rate as a function of gas concentration noise and gas flow speed. In an example application, the PoD may be used to estimate a cumulative distribution of gas plumes which were not detected based on a cumulative distribution of measured gas plumes. In another example application, the PoD may be used to refine an estimate for a measured emission rate.

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for determining gas emission rate detection sensitivity and gas flow speed using remote gas concentration measurements

Embodiments of the present disclosure are drawn to apparatuses, systems, and methods for range peak pairing and high accuracy target tracking using frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) light detection and ranging (LiDAR). A laser source may illuminate a target with a first laser chirp pair during a first time period and a second laser chirp pair during a second time period. Based on the configuration of the chirps between the pairs and within the pairs, properties of the target may be determined. For example, range estimates may be made based on each chirp pair, and those estimates may be averaged to cancel out a Doppler shift error. In another example, the Doppler shift may be determined, which may increase the accuracy of a range measurement and/or be used to identify which peaks are associated with a given target.

Methods and apparatuses for range peak pairing and high-accuracy target tracking using FMCW LADAR measurements

Embodiments of the disclosure are drawn to apparatus and methods for determining gas flux measurements. A gas plume may be emitted from a source and may be blown by wind in an environment. A measurement system, such as a light detection and ranging (lidar) system may collect a plurality of gas concentration measurements associated with the gas plume at a plurality of locations in the environment. A gas flux may be determined based on one or more of the gas concentration measurements along with a wind speed at a location associated with the gas plume. In some embodiments, a height of the gas plume may be determined, and the wind speed at the height of the gas plume may be determined and used to determine the gas flux.

Apparatuses and methods for gas flux measurements

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for open path laser spectroscopy with mobile platforms. An example system may include a first mobile platform and a second mobile platform, each of which supports a payload. A light beam directed from one payload to another may define a measurement path, which may be at a particular height above the ground. The payloads may determine a gas concentration along the measurement path. Wind information at the measurement height may be used to determine a gas flux. One or both of the mobile platforms may then move to a new location, and take a measurement along a new measurement path. By combining the measurement paths, gas flux through a flux surface may be determined.

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for gas flux measurements with mobile platforms

Embodiments of the disclosure are drawn to apparatuses and methods for a rotating optical reflector. Optical systems may have a limited field of view, and so in order to expand the area that the optical system collects data from, the field of view of the optical system may be scanned across a target area. The present disclosure is directed to a rotating optical reflector, which includes a transmissive layer which refracts light onto a reflective layer, which has a normal which is not parallel to the axis about which the optical reflector is rotated. The optical reflector may be both statically and dynamically balanced, which may allow an increased size of the optical reflector, which in turn may increase the aperture of an optical system (e.g., a lidar system) using the rotating optical reflector.

Apparatuses and methods for a rotating optical reflector

Embodiments of the disclosure are drawn to apparatuses and methods for anomalous gas concentration detection. A spectroscopic system, such as a wavelength modulated spectroscopy (WMS) system may measure gas concentrations in a target area. However, noise, such as speckle noise, may interfere with measuring relatively low concentrations of gas, and may lead to false positives. A noise model, which includes a contribution from a speckle noise model, may be used to process data from the spectroscopic system. An adaptive threshold may be applied based on an expected amount of noise. A speckle filter may remove measurements which are outliers based on a measurement of their noise. Plume detection may be used to determine a presence of gas plumes. Each of these processing steps may be associated with a confidence, which may be used to determine an overall confidence in the processed measurements/gas plumes.

Apparatuses and methods for anomalous gas concentration detection

Measurement apparatuses and methods are disclosed for generating high-precision and -accuracy gas concentration maps that can be overlaid with 3D topographic images by rapidly scanning one or several modulated laser beams with a spatially-encoded transmitter over a scene to build-up imagery. Independent measurements of the topographic target distance and path-integrated gas concentration are combined to yield a map of the path-averaged concentration between the sensor and each point in the image. This type of image is particularly useful for finding localized regions of elevated (or anomalous) gas concentration making it ideal for large-area leak detection and quantification applications including: oil and gas pipeline monitoring, chemical processing facility monitoring, and environmental monitoring.

Examples of FMCW laser radar systems and methods described herein may segment the processing of a broader bandwidth frequency chirp into multiple shorter-duration (e.g., lower bandwidth) frequency chirps. This segmentation may have the benefits in some examples of improving the measurement duty cycle and range resolution, and/or allowing for more flexible processing, and/or enabling improved detection of more distant objects.

Processing temporal segments of laser chirps and examples of use in FMCW LiDAR methods and apparatuses

Examples are provided that use multiple analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to disambiguate FMCW ladar range returns from one or more targets that may be greater than the Nyquist frequencies of one or more of the ADCs. Examples are also provided that use a first and a second laser FMCW return signal (e.g., reflected beam) in combination with two or more ADCs to disambiguate one or more target ranges (e.g., distances to one or more objects).

Digitization systems and techniques and examples of use in FMCW LiDAR methods and apparatuses

Methods and apparatuses are described for frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) light detection and ranging (LiDAR). Examples are provided where high-closed-loop bandwidth, active feedback applied to laser frequency chirps may provide increases in the free-running laser coherence length for long-range FMCW distance measurements. Examples are provided that use an asymmetric sideband generator within an active feedback loop for higher closed-loop bandwidth. Examples of using a single shared reference interferometer within multiple active feedback loops that may be used for increasing the coherence length of multiple chirped lasers are described. Example calibrators are also described.

FMCW LiDAR methods and apparatuses including examples having feedback loops

Measurement approaches and data analysis methods are disclosed for combining 3D topographic data with spatially-registered gas concentration data to increase the efficiency of gas monitoring and leak detection tasks. Here, the metric for efficiency is defined as reducing the measurement time required to achieve the detection, or non-detection, of a gas leak with a desired confidence level. Methods are presented for localizing and quantifying detected gas leaks. Particular attention is paid to the combination of 3D spatial data with path-integrated gas concentration measurements acquired using remote gas sensing technologies, as this data can be used to determine the path-averaged gas concentration between the sensor and points in the measurement scene. Path-averaged gas concentration data is useful for finding and quantifying localized regions of elevated (or anomalous) gas concentration making it ideal for a variety of applications including: oil and gas pipeline monitoring, facility leak and emissions monitoring, and environmental monitoring.

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Bozeman, MT, United States of America

Michael James Thorpe