A HIGH-PRECISION SUN-TOLERANT LIDAR

A PULSE LASER DIODE LIDAR SYSTEM WITH THE FOLLOWING SALIENT CAPABILITIES: SINGLE PULSE SUB-CENTIMETER RANGE ACCURACY; HIGH IMMUNITY TO SOLAR BACKGROUND; TARGET DISCRIMINATION; ADAPTIVE WINDOWING; EYESAFETY AT APERTURE; MULTI-THOUSAND PER SECOND PULSE RATE FOR ACCURATE VELOCITY DETERMINATION; EXTENDIBILITY TO VIDEO RATE THREE DIMENSIONAL TRACKING. THEMAJOR INNOVATION IS ACHIEVING ACCURACY NEEDED BY SEVERAL APPLICATIONS. PRIME APPLICATIONS ARE RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKINGWITH RANGE CONTROLLED WIDE FIELD-OF-VIEW FOR SCANNERLESS ATTITUDE CONTROL, SHORT RANGE MANEUVERING AND STATION KEEPING, TRACKING AND IMAGING FOR SPACE ROBOT RESCUE AND RETRIEVAL MISSION, WORK SITE POSITIONING AND ROBOTIC ARM CONTROL. CONTINUOUS WAVE LIDARS CANNOT SIMULTANEOUSLY SATISFY THESE NEEDS; EXISTING PULSED LASER RANGERS ARE INSUFFICIENTLY ACCURATE. A SINGLE CONTROL UNIT WILL BE DEVELOPED APPLICABLE TO MOST PULSED SOURCES, LASER OR RADAR.THE MAJOR CONCLUSION TO BE DRAWN IS THAT TIMING IMPROVEMENTS TO OTHERWISE NEAR STANDARD HOLOMETRIX RANGING EQUIPMENT CAN ACHIEVE 5MM-1CM SINGLE PULSE ACCURACY. THIS WILL PROVIDE A BASELINE SYSTEM WHICH IS WELL ADAPTED TO A VARIETY OF NASA MISSION REQUIREMENTS.