Next-Generation Instrument Control Platform for the Aerosol Mass Spectrometer

Aerodyne Research builds the Aerosol Mass Spectrometer, an instrument used by atmospheric scientists worldwide to measure the chemical composition of airborne particles in real time. This tool has important applications in the fields of air quality research, climate science, and environmental epidemiology. The instrument’s control electronics, which manage its vacuum system, particle vaporizer, and precision timing hardware, have evolved incrementally over two decades into a collection of separate subsystems and legacy microcontrollers. 

The SCOPE team will design a modern replacement from the ground up: new control hardware, new firmware, and a unified communication architecture, built to drop into existing instruments without changing the scientific software researchers already rely on. Along the way the team will reverse-engineer and document the current system, develop a hardware-in-the-loop test bench, and deliver a design package Aerodyne can build and maintain going forward. 

The student team will engage in mixed-signal circuit design, PCB layout, embedded firmware, motor and thermal control, real-time systems, protocol design, and systems engineering. For Aerodyne, a simpler and better-documented control platform means instruments that are faster to build, easier to support, and more resilient to supply-chain disruption, which ultimately means keeping capable instruments in the hands of the scientists who need them. 

Faculty Advisor:

• Scott Hersey

Team Members:

• Laurel Cox
• Toby Mallon
• Fiona McSherry
• Eddy Pan
• Ishan Porwal
• Ahan Trivedi