Censys was recently awarded an EPA SBIR Phase I award for “Remote sensing of fugitive methane using retroreflector-based Differential Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (DLAS) system on a UAV pair.”
Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, with 28 times greater heating capacity than carbon dioxide. With approximately 3.2 million abandoned wells in the United States, mitigating fugitive emissions was designated a high priority by the Biden Administration. Our team of dedicated engineers and problem solvers made it our mission as well to help clean up the environment one step at a time. Led by Noel Heiks, our VP of Sensing & Data, Censys’ solution system is named RetraSpectra™.
Through utilizing a DLAS on one UAV and a retroreflector on another UAV, larger spatial columns of fugitive leaks can be measured in significantly less time as compared to currently used manual methods. Aligned with the mission proposal, Censys has exclusively licensed Patent #US 8,823,938 B2 from The Aerospace Corporation (a Federally Funded Research and Development Center or FFRDC) which is titled, ’System, Apparatus, and Method of Tracking Atmospheric Differential Absorption’.
Through this SBIR effort and simultaneous in-house development, Censys aims to improve upon this patent specifically as it relates to commercializing this technology while increasing its TRL.
Advantages of Using a Retroreflector
Advantage of Using a UAV Pair