LASER VELOCIMETRY PROCESSOR FOR HYPERSONIC FLOWS

ACCURATE AND DETAILED EXPERIMENTAL DATA SUCH AS VELOCITY DISTRIBUTION IN COMPLEX FLOW FIELDS AT HYPERSONIC SPEEDS AREREQUIRED FOR VALIDATION OF CFD RESULTS. LASER VELOCIMETRY (LV) HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY USED IN TRANSONIC AND SUPERSONIC FLOWS. APPLICATION OF LV TO HYPERSONIC FLOWS REQUIRES SIGNAL PROCESSORS WHICH ARE GENERALLY NOT AVAILABLE TO-DATE. THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP LV SIGNAL PROCESSORS WHICH CAN (A) ACCURATELY ACCEPT AND PROCESS SIGNALS FROM SMALL (0.2 TO 0.3 MICRON) PARTICLES, (B) PROCESS DOPPLER SIGNALS WITH FREQUENCIES OF 100 MHZ AND HIGHER, (C) PROVIDE A WIDE DYNAMIC RANGE FOR THE SIGNAL FREQUENCY AND AMPLITUDE, AND (D) OPERATE IN SHORT DURATION FLOWS. DURING PHASE I OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM, THE SYSTEM DESIGN FOR A THREE-COMPONENT LV PROCESSOR FOR HIGH SPEED APPLICATION WILL BE COMPLETED. THE PROCESSOR WILL BE BASED ON A 32 BIT ARCHITECTURE SYSTEM AND WILL BE DEVELOPED AND DELIVERED TO NASA DURING PHASE II OF THE PROGRAM.