DE Optical Turbulence Collection Sensor

To support development of Directed Energy (DE) decision aids and to characterize optical turbulence along arbitrary slant paths, Trex in collaboration with GTRI proposes to develop the Turbulence Surveillance LIDAR (TSL), which is based on a synergistic coupling of Differential Image Motion (DIM) LIDAR with a passive DIM Monitor (DIMM). The DIM LIDAR determines vertical profiles of the refractive index structure parameter Cn2 by measuring both differential tilt and scintillation of a laser beacon created by a pulsed laser at different ranges. The use of scintillation measurements increases the convergence and improves spatial resolution of the inversion algorithm. The DIMM measures a path-integrated value of Cn2 over the entire atmosphere by imaging stars, thereby increasing the range of turbulence measurements up to the top of the atmosphere.Under the Phase I effort, several tasks will be performed: an analysis of existing and near-term optical turbulence collection sensors will be performed; system requirements will be defined; LIDAR performance will be evaluated; initial design of the DIMM will be developed; an advanced inversion algorithm will be developed; and a conceptual design of the Phase-II prototype will be developed. Under the Phase II effort, a TSL prototype will be built and tested.