SESI Lidar Wind Profiler

We propose to develop a small wind profiling lidar based on SESI and NASA technology that also produces boundary layer, cloud height, and cloud fraction data products. The wind measurements are based on the well established technique of aerosol structure time-lag correlation using a simple elastic scattering aerosol lidar. Accurate and timely cloud parameters (cloud fraction vs. altitude, ceiling, and altitudes of multiple layers) are also obtained using spatial scanning or sampling strategies that are superior to the data obtained from either whole sky imaging cameras or fixed single beam laser ceilometers. SESI is one of the few companies that have transitioned atmospheric lidars to DoD operational readiness, and is pursuing a program to develop wind lidars for multiple DoD and civilian applications. Using pulsed laser beams projected from a small telescope and range gated detectors, we are able to remotely measure 2-D and 3-D wind vectors at contiguous range intervals along a given line of sight without the use of expensive heterodyne or other Doppler technologies required by many other wind lidar systems. The technology is simple, robust, and builds on decades of development by several groups using scanning aerosol backscatter lidar.