Low-Cost Portable Lidar Wind Profiler

The Army requires accurate sensing of low-level winds in order to accurately predict the dispersion of chemical or biological agents. Currently, towers equipped with multiple in-situ sensors are used for this measurement, but such towers are expensive and difficult to move, and it may not be possible to erect them in urban areas. Coherent Technologies, Inc. (CTI) proposes to solve this problem with a ground based, remote sensing, eye-safe wind lidar, providing 3D range-resolved wind measurements with accuracy and update time matching in-situ sensors. The sensor provides 10 m range resolution at 10 Hz from 10 m up to at least 100 m range, with component wind accuracy on the 10 cm/s level. The proposed sensor draws from CTI's extensive experience in remote wind sensing, providing a compact, mobile, inexpensive, low-risk solution. The Phase I effort will analyze potential sensor configurations and identify the optimal approach, based upon cost, complexity, and performance. The culmination of the Phase I effort will be a preliminary sensor design. The Phase II effort will develop, test, and demonstrate the prototype sensor based upon the Phase I design.