Crosswind and Range Measurement Lidar for Sniper's Sights

Crosswind influences the accuracy of sharpshooting at short, medium and large ranges. At large shooting ranges, crosswind becomes the largest component in the error budget of sniper weapons. The crosswind along the path deflects the bullet horizontally from its aim point at the target. Medium crosswind velocities (~5 m/sec) along the flight path can cause up to 1 meter deviation of a bullet at 500 meters. Target range uncertainty can further degrade the accuracy by vertically deflecting the bullet from its aim point at the target. Recently, Bimrose has acquired current Lidar technology to measure the crosswinds and 'target range'. Using our experience with miniaturization of optical components and systems we will improve on this current Lidar technology for the application described in this proposal. It is proposed to develop a compact Lidar system for measuring the crosswind and range to the target in real time. Measurement of crosswind will utilized the intensity fluctuation induced on the reflected lasaer beam by the atmospheric turbulence, where the temporal behavior of these fluctuations is related to the crosswind component along the path. The proposed Lidar system will be composed of a solid-state, diode-pumped, high repitition rate laser transmitter, a specially designed photodiode receiver and a processing and display unit based on a lap-top computer. At the end of phase I, a stand alone compact Lidar system, which is not mounted on a sniper rifle, will be presented and tested. The system will enable to measure the average crosswind along the path, and also the range to all types of natural diffusive targets, at ranges of up to 1000 meter. Range and crosswind data will be displayed on a monitor in real time for the use of a sniper.