INTERFEROMETRIC IMAGING AND FREQUENCY ESTIMATION OF SURFACE VIBRATION PATTERNS

THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY FOR DEVELOPING AN INSTRUMENT FOR MEASURING SURFACE VIBRATION PATTERNS USING AN INNOVATIVE COMBINATION OF LASER ILLUMINATION AND INTERFEROMETRIC IMAGING COUPLED TO A NOVEL DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR. THE RESEARCH EFFORT WILL INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF OPTICAL HETERODYNE DETECTION IN TERMS OF BEAM ALIGNMENT, STABILITY, AND NOISE TO DETERMINE WHETHER A HETERODYNE RECEIVER CAN BE BUILT. IN ADDITION, A SIGNIFICANT PART OF THE EFFORT WILL BE DEVOTED TO DESIGNING A DIGITAL PROCESSOR WITH SUFFICIENT SPEED TO SAMPLE THE HIGH FREQUENCY DATA AND TO MOSAIC PIXELS OVER LARGER SUFFACE AREAS. SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL RESULT IN THE PRELIMINARY DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE PREDICTION FOR A NEW INSTRUMENT TO BE USED FOR THE ACCURATE MEASUREMENT OF VIBRATION PATTERNS OF STRUCTURAL SURFACES FOR AERONAUTICAL AND AEROSPACE VEHICLES.