Long-Range Maritime Atmospheric LIDAR

ADA Technologies is teaming with the Colorado School of Mines, Raytheon and Q-Peak to propose the development of a novel Maritime Atmospheric LIDAR (MAC-LIDAR) capable of providing critical atmospheric characterization information to support the effective operation of next generation laser weapons. The proposed system is based on laser light scattering to measure attenuation of a laser beam traveling long distances in the atmosphere and mostly bounded by seas or oceans. The system concept is similar to conventional LIDAR, but greatly simplified to make it compact and practical for use on war ships. The mast mounted system will illuminate the atmosphere surrounding a ship and produce 3-D images of atmospheric attenuation surrounding the ship. MAC-LIDAR constructs 3-D images of attenuation by combining data from time gated 2-D images of laser light scattered back to system with polarization filtering. Beam attenuation will be computed using a single wavelength laser source at 1064 nm. The Phase I activities will provide a proof-of-concept instrument as well as preliminary evaluation data in a laboratory environment in the Base period (range of up to 105 ft) and in a longer underground tunnel in the Option period (range up to 800 ft).