Vertical Wind Profile Data Collection Using Laser Technology on Unmanned Delivery Platforms.

For unmanned air vehicules to become cost effective and have reliable performance they will require avionic sensor systems such as obstacle avoidance and wind sensing that are low cost and weight just a few pounds. Doppler Laser Radar has indeed proven to be a useful tool to measure wind fields near airports. The main obstacle in putting such systems in airplanes and in particular UAVs is their size, weight and overall cost. As a result a compact and rugged solution with a low entry cost is required for applications such as leaflet delivery and wind measurement for landing and take-off. Fibertek is proposing for this SBIR an all Fiber Lidar system with reduced weight and power consumption with a mechanical design compatible with military field requirements. During the first phase of this SBIR we will perform a systematic study of the reliability of the key components of the detection system. In addition, we will demonstrate a power amplifier in the eye safe spectral region achieving the system parameters determined in this proposal.