Multi-Scale High Resolution Atmospheric Wind Field and Cloud/Aersol Sensor

A novel, pulsed, wide bandwidth, coherent solid state lidar is proposed to acquire high resolution space and time resolved images of the time-varying wind vector field in localized volumes. The proposed system can be used to map the time varying flow in complex flow environments, such as in the airwake of ships, in rugged terrain, or around buildings or large vehicles and correlate these wind fields with general wind and temperature conditions measured at larger scales. The goal is to be able to collect data in particular geometries and locales at high resolution and correlate these data with measurements or predictions of the atmosphere that may be available during live simulations. This information is to be formed into a data and model base so that realistic descriptions of high resolution wind or visibility/propagation features can be generated that are consistent with measurements or predictions made in live simulations and can be input in near real time to various virtual or constructive simulations of military operations or actions. In addition to characterizing the wind and turbulence fields in localized volumes, the proposed lidar sensor would provide measurements of visibility, cloud and smoke distributions and boundaries, and profiles of refractive turbulence.