Optical sensor particulate classification using optical response signal analysis

A system comprising:

• a particle sensor assembly for a vehicle, the particle sensor assembly comprising:
• a light source configured to direct a light beam to an interrogation region outside of the vehicle;
• and
• an optical detector configured to receive scattered or reflected light from an aerosol particle in the interrogation region;
• and
• a processor in operative communication with the optical detector;
• wherein the processor hosts a module that includes program instructions, executable by the processor, to perform a method for particle classification comprising:
• measuring an optical response from a single particle in the interrogation region by a process comprising:
• identifying an optical response peak for scattered or reflected light from the interrogation region;
• measuring an amplitude and duration of the optical response peak;
• and
• correcting the duration of the optical response peak based on an airspeed of the vehicle;
• based on the measured amplitude of the optical response peak, generating an expected optical response duration for a water droplet using a calibration table;
• analyzing the measured optical response duration and the expected optical response duration to determine a particle classification;
• and
• generating classification probabilities for one or more particle types.