Mapping air contaminants using path-integrated optical remote sensing with a non-overlapping variable path length beam geometry

A method of mapping contaminants within a sampling region using path integrated data, comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing an instrument capable of generating path integrated concentration (PIC) data within said sampling region;
• (b) using said instrument to acquire PIC data for a plurality of different paths within said sampling region;
• (c) reiteratively generating a cumulative distribution function that fits the acquired PIC data;
• and
• (d) using said cumulative distribution function to create a two-dimensional (2D) spatial map indicating levels of said contaminants within the sampling region.

A system for acquiring path integrated concentration (PIC) data from within a sampling region and generating a spatial concentration map based on said PIC data, comprising:

• (a) an instrument that emits energy along a path;
• (b) at least one detector disposed so as to detect the energy emitted by said instrument, said detector producing a signal indicative of the PIC data along said path;
• (c) a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions are stored;
• and
• (d) a processor that is coupled to said at least one detector, and to said memory, said processor executing said machine instructions stored in the memory, causing the processor to implement a plurality of functions, including:
• (i) identifying a plurality of paths over which energy emitted by the instrument is directed and for which PIC data is obtained;
• (ii) accumulating PIC data for each path defined by the user;
• (iii) generating a cumulative distribution function that fits the accumulated PIC data;
• and
• (iv) using the cumulative distribution function to generate a spatial concentration map.

A method of mapping a property associated with a sampling region using path integrated data, to enable the property to be evaluated at specific locations over the measurement path without utilizing path integrated data obtained from intersecting sampling paths, comprising the steps of:

• (a) defining a sampling region in which at least one property associated with said sampling region will be mapped;
• (b) acquiring path integrated data for a plurality of sampling paths within said sampling region, such that the plurality of sampling paths are not required to intersect in order to obtain path integrated data that can be used to evaluate the at least one property at specific locations over each of the plurality of sampling paths;
• (c) reiteratively generating a cumulative distribution function of the at least one property associated with said sampling region from said path integrated data, said cumulative distribution function enabling the at least one property to be evaluated at specific locations over each of the plurality of sampling paths without evaluating an average of the at least one property over a length of each of the plurality of sampling paths;
• and
• (d) using said cumulative distribution function to produce a map of the at least one property for the sampling region.

A method of mapping contaminants within a sampling region using path integrated data, comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing an instrument capable of generating path integrated concentration (PIC) data within said sampling region;
• (b) using said instrument to acquire PIC data for a plurality of different paths within said sampling region, such that none of the plurality of different paths are required to intersect in order to obtain the PIC data and so that said PIC data is usable to determine a contaminant concentration at specific locations over each of the plurality of sampling paths;
• (c) reiteratively generating a cumulative distribution function that fits the acquired PIC data;
• and
• (d) using said cumulative distribution function to create a map of said contaminants within the sampling region.

A method of evaluating at least one property associated with a plurality of sampling paths using path integrated data, to enable the at least one property to be evaluated at specific locations over each sampling path, comprising the steps of:

• (a) defining a sampling region in which at least one property associated with said sampling region will be mapped;
• (b) acquiring the path integrated data for a plurality of sampling paths within said sampling region;
• and
• (c) reiteratively generating a cumulative distribution function of said at least one property associated with said sampling region from said path integrated data, said cumulative distribution function enabling the at least one property to be evaluated at specific locations over each of the plurality of sampling paths without evaluating an average of the at least one property over a length of each of the plurality of sampling paths.

A system for acquiring and evaluating at least one property associated with a plurality of sampling paths from within a sampling region using path integrated data, to enable the at least one property to be evaluated at specific locations over each sampling path, comprising:

• (a) an instrument that emits energy along at least one path;
• (b) at least one detector disposed so as to detect the energy emitted by said instrument, said detector producing a signal indicative of the path integrated data along said at least one path;
• (c) a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions are stored;
• and
• (d) a processor that is coupled to said at least one detector, and to said memory, said processor executing said machine instructions stored in the memory, causing the processor to implement a plurality of functions, including:
• (i) identifying a plurality of paths over which energy emitted by the instrument is directed and for which path integrated data are obtained;
• (ii) accumulating the path integrated data for each path identified by the user;
• (iii) generating a cumulative distribution function that fits the accumulated path integrated data;
• and
• (iv) using the cumulative distribution function to evaluate the at least one property at specific locations over each of the plurality of sampling paths.