Target-In-The-Loop Sensing Suite for Long-Range Atmospheric Effects Characterization

This project offers a novel polychromatic target-in-the-loop atmospheric sensing (TILAS) concept for in situ characterization of the combined effects of atmospheric turbulence, refractivity, transmittance, and optical path difference (piston phase) over long-range, low elevation angle atmospheric paths. The proposed concept allows practical implementation of a modular compact TILAS atmospheric sensor suite for continuous atmospheric characterization along dynamically changing lines-of-sight to space and/or ground-based objects. The TILAS concept is based on active illumination of a remotely located object (in the atmosphere or in space) using a specially designed laser transceiver system that operates with multiple optical wavelengths, and measurements of selected characteristics of the backscattered light. The Phase I effort includes TILAS concept development, preliminary proof-of-concept atmospheric experiments, wave-optics simulations, and numerical analysis of large-scale atmospheric effects using a computational fluid dynamics-based Weather Research Forecast (WRF) computations.