In-flight Integrated Mission Management System (I-LIMMS)

The Navy continues to study the processes of the MABL using instrumented aircraft with a suite of in-situ sensors. These wind, cloud and aerosol measurements can describe the atmosphere along the flight path but provide little information for the environment near and around the aircraft. An instrument that can provide this environmental content is the airborne Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL). The DWL can provide wind and aerosol profiles from all viewing angles with high space and time resolution, be flown to specific targets of interest and employ numerous scanning strategies. The ultimate goal of this SBIR effort is to integrate current airborne in-situ measurements and onboard satellite/radar data with new DWL wind/aerosol measurements through the creation of a real-time analysis and visualization package that can be utilized for in-flight mission management. The immediate goal of this Phase I proposal is to determine the feasibility and preliminary design of I-LIMMS (In-flight Lidar Integrated Mission Management System) for the integrated processing of these data. This includes defining all interfaces, hardware and software requirements, defining and populating a mode library and creating a complete data testbed to be used in Phase II.BENEFITS: The DWL-centric integrated real-time analysis and visualization package proposed in this SBIR effort can be utilized to provide a complete description of the atmospheric environment being investigated by an aircraft. As a result, it provides a critical on-board mission management tool that can be used by the mission manager to make crucial in-flight decisions. The proposed I-LIMMS package could support both operational and research missions by the military, federal agencies and private concerns. Simpson Weather Associates (SWA) would pursue the commercialization of the core components of I-LIMMS. I-LIMMS is being designed to be extensible and would be marketable for applications involving both direct and coherent detection Doppler lidars flown on manned and unmanned aircraft. SWA is interested in being involved with the application of the I-LIMMS for use by the military, operational scientists and atmospheric researchers conducting airborne missions and studies. Further downstream, SWA is very interested in adapting the proposed I-LIMMS to Unmanned Aerospace Vehicles. Primary target markets would include DoD, Homeland Security, EPA and NOAA for use in their operations. NASA and NSF atmospheric research programs are also major users of the types of data to be obtained and visualized by the proposed I-LIMMS.