Lidar Wind Profiler for the NextGen Airportal

MassTech, Inc. proposes to develop a Lidar Wind Profiler for standoff sensing of concurrent 3-component wind velocities using an eye-safe, rugged, reliable optical device. We propose to use a multi-beam lidar system to obtain aerosol backscatter data from the flowfield and to develop a time-lag cross-correlation algorithm to extract three-component velocity measurements. In addition, we propose to determine the feasibility of measuring atmospheric turbulence, cloud ceiling as well as the location and intensity of aircraft wake vortices from the lidar backscatter data, in combination with the derived wind data products. In Phase I, a breadboard prototype will be designed and built to demonstrate proof-of-concept of obtaining velocity measurements from a representative flowfield and the results will be validated using sonic and cup-and-vane anemometers. This breadboard will be used to benchmark the system requirements for the design of an ALV prototype that will be built in Phase II and tested in an experimental test facility such as a wind tunnel. These measurements will be validated by comparing with anemometers and existing test data, along with computational predictions. Key design goals are reliability, eye-safety, portability and low cost.