Instrumentation and Data Systems

STI instrumentation specialists develop custom instruments for measurement needs that cannot be met with standard or commercial equipment. STI scientists are experts in the design, development, and implementation of custom instruments including inlet-based calibration systems, data acquisition systems, and high-sensitivity and high-speed trace gas instruments that measure NO_x,y, ozone, and other trace gasses. We also specialize in enhancing commercial instruments for sensitivity and performance and developing trace gas and aerosol measurement suites for deployment on surface and aloft platforms.

STI scientists have designed and built PC-based data acquisition systems using commercial hardware and a flexible and powerful Labview®-based user interface to support research projects. These systems record up to 70 channels of data per second. The software is designed for automatic control and data acquisition for a wide variety of measurement systems and includes provision for automatic uploading of collected data to a remote site. Examples include systems for recording aerosol size distributions from multiple instruments, for aircraft data acquisition, and for controlling and recording data from visibility and air quality monitoring systems.