Practical Driving Electronics for an AOTF-Based NO ₂ Camera

The measurement of NO ₂ abundance in the air is of interest for monitoring pollution sources and air quality. A new instrumental concept has been recently introduced, which makes use of an acoustooptical tunable filter (AOTF) as the main component of a spectral imager. With the capability of resolving the absorption spectrum of NO ₂ , and a high spatial and temporal sampling, this instrument can be seen as a NO ₂ camera. In this instrument, the selection of different optical wavelengths by the AOTF is done by applying a radio frequency (RF) signal to the AOTF. The selected frequency and the applied amplitude are the key parameters for the quality of the measurements. The design and assembly of an RF chain, consisting of an RF generator and RF amplifier, will lead to an electronics bench capable of driving the NO ₂ camera. In view of a potential spaceborne application of this instrumental concept, the design of the RF generator is only making use of space-qualified components. This paper focuses on the development of this part of the electronics bench.