Chip-Levewl Doppler Laser Radar

Recent progress in self-mixing Doppler sensors have proven that measurement performance similar to that obtained with continuous-wave coherent laser radar is feasible, but with at least an order of magnitude less complexity and cost. We believe that extremely simple hardware signal processors can also be built as single chips, or at most a few chips. This points to the possibility of developing highly manufacturable Doppler and range sensors at the chip level. Such devices do not currently exist, but their development is likely to have a major impact in a number of measurement scenarios of military and commercial interest. In Phase I we propose to prove the feasibility of developing chip level laser radar systems suitable for target ranging, tracking and discrimination, as well as airspeed indicators. This will include modeling and analysis of highly simplified signal processors aimed at single-chip manufacturing and power spectrum conversion rates greater than 1 MHz. Simple, low cost range/Doppler sensors have very high commercial potential including: airspeed sensing, velocimetry, surveillance, traffic monitoring and management, collision avoidance, and process control. Single-point and imaging sensors of the proposed type are expected to provide significantly enhanced capability in several of these areas.