AirPhoton
Advanced instruments for field deployment with laboratory capabilities
AirPhoton Inc., fomed in 2012, is the U.S. division of GRASP-Earth. We design and manufacture instruments to measure airborne particulates and trace gases. Our instruments are built for field deployment but provide high end capabilities typically found in laboratory instruments. Typically our instruments are used to study particulate characteristics for air quality and human health, and/or climate applications. Our instruments are deployed globally by the SPARTAN Network, NASA’s MAIA mission and a host of research institutes. Our company founders are scientists who have been working in the area of particulate measurements since the early 90’s. We don’t just sell instruments, we provide expertise in the how, why and where of particulate and gas measurements.
In the summer of 2022 AirPhoton merged with GRASP-SAS, forming GRASP-Earth. GRASP-SAS has developed a data platform which is used to create aerosol, cloud and surface property data products for satellite sensors. It is widely used by several space agencies in Europe and operational product for missions such as Sentinel-4, CO2M or 3MI. Our goal for GRASP-Earth is to push the boundaries of instrument capabilities by integrating space and ground observations along with models to advance our monitoring and understanding of Earth’s atmosphere. We use GRASP with our in-situ optical instruments to allow us to maximize their information content and to create advanced products.
We are using GRASP in innovative new ways to synergistically combine data from various instruments to create data products which go beyond current offerings. These include: In-situ instruments with satellite data; satellite data from multiple platforms; and data from different types of in-situ instruments. Our instruments have unique features that our competitors do not offer and which you will see on the following section. If you have a question or a suggestion for an application or a new instrument please reach out. Innovation is a collaborative process that is enriched by many minds.
IMAP 100
PI Neph+GRASP synergy for a better instrument’s understanding
The PI-Neph (Polarized Imaging Nephelometer) is an innovative instrument developed by AirPhoton team. It features a wide field-of-view camera within a closed chamber to detect scattered light from aerosol particles. This multi-wavelength nephelometer provides accurate measurements of the P11 (phase function) and -P12/P11 (polarized phase function) from ambient aerosol particles at wavelengths of 405nm, 515nm, and 660nm, spanning an angular range of 5-175 degrees with high angular resolution (1 degree). Advanced observations from the PI-Neph have been integrated into the GRASP algorithm for:
1. Synthetic tests on typical aerosol models, including dust, oceanic, urban, and biomass burning aerosols, with the option to introduce random noise into the measurements. The synthetic tests enable clients and scientists to explore the potential and capabilities of the measurements.
2. Real measurements collected at ground stations, such as the University of Granada in Spain, during various pollution episodes including dust and biomass burning events.
The results have demonstrated the great capability of the PI-Neph/GRASP to retrieve aerosol microphysical properties with high accuracy—such as aerosol size distribution, complex refractive index, and sphericity—while achieving good fit with the measurements with low retrieval residuals.
Our capabilities include
In-situ instrumentation
Laboratory instrumentation
Custom instrumentation
Aircraft instrumentation
Satellite products and services
The Team
Richard Kleidman | CEO
Richard Kleidman, AirPhoton’s CEO, co-developed NASA’s international training program. With 30 years of experience in teaching, training, and communicating science and technology, he also boasts 25 years in algorithm development for satellite retrievals.
Lorraine Remer | CSO
Lorraine Remer, CSO, led NASA’s aerosol product development team from 1998-2012. With 30 years of experience in Remote Sensing and satellite-based science and management, she is also a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
Vanderlei Martins | CTO
Vanderlei Martins, CTO, is Director of the UMBC Earth Space Institute and Professor of Physics. He led the HARP 3U cubesat launch in 2019 and is the principal investigator for the HARP2 polarimeter on NASA’s PACE mission.
John Hall | COO
John Hall, AirPhoton’s COO, holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. With 14 years of experience in engineering design and manufacturing, he is also a certified AERMOD Gaussian air dispersion modeler.
Our instruments provide
Real-time particulate measurements
Sampling stations measurements
Discover AirPhoton
Aeroexplorer system single inlet
Aeroexplorer system single inlet
Training
Training
Webinars
Webinars
Aeroexplorer system Dual inlet
Aeroexplorer system Dual inlet
PI Neph
PI Neph
Filter Cartridges
Filter Cartridges
Clean Air Reference
Clean Air Reference
AirPhoton Ltd. is a Maryland-based company part of GRASP Earth. For any legal information, please contact office@grasp-earth.com | © GRASP SAS, all rights reserved, 2024