The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 17, 2015
Filed:
Apr. 26, 2013
Mark R Schoeberl, Silver Spring, MD (US);
Mark R Schoeberl, Silver Spring, MD (US);
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION, Hampton, VA (US);
Abstract
A system for estimating size distribution and concentration of aerosols in an atmospheric region includes a digital camera, a sunlight attenuation filter, and a processor. The filter is aligned between the sun and the camera's aperture. Image processing is performed on an image captured when the filter and the sky are in focus of the camera. The image includes (i) sunlight passing through the filter, and (ii) sunlight scattered by the atmosphere and not incident on the filter. The image processing compares intensity of a first portion of the image defined by the sunlight so-scattered to Mie and Rayleigh scattering computations generated for aerosols of known size distributions where a closest match is indicative of size distribution of aerosols. The image processing determines total solar irradiance in a second portion of the image defined by the sunlight so-passed through the filter as an indication of total concentration of aerosols.