An Optical Health Monitor for High Power Lasers

This project is developing a real-time software "health monitoring" system for high-powered laser systems. By "health monitoring", we are referring to a system that can independently monitor the status of the laser over time, alerting operators to diminished performance and preventing catastrophic failure. A variety of different high power lasers are under development, including the Airborne Laser and the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL). These lasers need to not only operate for long periods of time without system failure, but also must deliver peak amounts of power in order to achieve their mission. To achieve long-term peak performance, system operators must monitor the condition of various optics using sensors such as video cameras, scatter meters, power meters, and environmental sensors. This Phase II project will create a software package that can monitor high value optics in real time. A graphical toolkit will be created to allow operators to easily create data monitors. An autonomous diagnostics module will also be included. Ultimately, the system will be a highly interactive monitoring and diagnostic tool for laser operators that will assure optimal system performance.