SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MEASURING GAS FLUX

• US 20150090000A1
• Filed: 09/27/2013
• Published: 04/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Li & S Company Limited (Yesco Holdings Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Li & S Company Limited (Yesco Holdings Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ediger, Kevin, Riensche, Bradley Alan
• Granted Patent: US 9,759,703 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/31.01
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0075 for multiple spatially distributed sensors, e.g. for environmental monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0644 External master-clock
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0658 Clock or time synchronisation among packet nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0667 Bidirectional timestamps, e.g. NTP or PTP for compensation of clock drift and for compensation of propagation delays arrangements for monitoring round trip delays in packet switching networks H04L43/0864
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/403 with centralised control, e.g. polling

Abstract

Systems and methods for measuring gas flux are disclosed. One method for calculating gas flux includes: receiving a master clock signal from a global positioning system (GPS) module; transmitting a clock synchronization signal that is based on the master clock signal to a measurement subsystem configured to measure environmental data, wherein the measurement subsystem comprises at least two clocks; receiving the environmental data from the measurement subsystem, wherein the environmental data is associated with the at least two clocks; and calculating gas flux based on the environmental data received from the measurement subsystem.

Claims

1. A system for measuring gas flux, the system comprising:

a measurement subsystem configured to measure environmental data associated with measuring the gas flux, wherein the measurement subsystem comprises at least two clocks; and

a processing unit in signal communication with the measurement subsystem, wherein the processing unit is configured to;

transmit a signal over a packet-switched network to the measurement subsystem so as to synchronize the at least two clocks in the measurement subsystem,

receive the environmental data from the measurement subsystem, wherein the environmental data is associated with the at least two clocks, and

calculate the gas flux based on the environmental data received from the measurement subsystem.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is installed above a terrestrial surface or a water surface.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the environmental data comprises gas data and wind data.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the measurement subsystem comprises a gas analyzer configured to analyze carbon dioxide and water vapor.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the measurement subsystem further comprises an anemometer.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the measurement subsystem comprises a first gas analyzer, a second gas analyzer, and an anemometer, wherein the first gas analyzer is configured to analyze methane and the second gas analyzer is configured to measure carbon dioxide and water vapor.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a global positioning system (GPS) module communicatively coupled to the processing unit, wherein the GPS module is configured to transmit a signal to the processing unit that corresponds to a master clock signal.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the signal comprises a PPS (pulse-per-second) signal.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least two clocks comprise FPGA (field-programmable gate array) clocks.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein synchronizing the at least two clocks comprises:

receiving a master clock signal from a global positioning system (GPS) module communicatively coupled to the processing unit; and

transmitting a clock synchronization signal to each of at least two measurement devices included in the measurement subsystem,

wherein software clocks included in the at least two measurement devices are synchronized based on the clock synchronization signal, and

wherein hardware clocks included in the at least two measurement devices are synchronized based on the synchronized software clocks.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the packet-switched network comprises an Ethernet network.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

transmit the calculated gas flux to a computing device communicatively coupled to the processor over a data network.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the data network is a wireless network or a wired network.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the packet-switched network is the same as the data network, or wherein the packet-switched network is different than the data network.

15. The system of claim 1,

wherein the measurement subsystem comprises a first device and a second device;

wherein environmental data measured by a first device is transmitted to the second device; and

wherein the second device transmits the environmental data measured by the first device to the processing unit.

16. A computing device for calculating gas flux, the computing device comprising:

a first interface configured to receive a master clock signal from a global positioning system (GPS) module;

a second interface configured to transmit a clock synchronization signal that is based on the master clock signal to a measurement subsystem configured to measure environmental data, wherein the measurement subsystem comprises at least two clocks;

a third interface configured to receive the environmental data from the measurement subsystem, wherein the environmental data is associated with the at least two clocks; and

a processing unit configured to calculate gas flux based on the environmental data received from the measurement subsystem.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the measurement subsystem comprises a gas analyzer and an anemometer, wherein the gas analyzer is configured to analyze carbon dioxide and water vapor.

18. A method for calculating gas flux, comprising:

receiving a master clock signal from a global positioning system (GPS) module;

transmitting a clock synchronization signal that is based on the master clock signal to a measurement subsystem configured to measure environmental data, wherein the measurement subsystem comprises at least two clocks;

receiving the environmental data from the measurement subsystem, wherein the environmental data is associated with the at least two clocks; and

calculating gas flux based on the environmental data received from the measurement subsystem.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising transmitting the calculated gas flux to a computing device over a data network.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the measurement subsystem comprises a gas analyzer and an anemometer, wherein the gas analyzer is configured to analyze carbon dioxide and water vapor.