Atmospheric Winds LIDAR Profiler

Systems amp; Processes Engineering Corporation (SPEC) is proposing an Atmospheric Winds LIDAR Profiler system to improve understanding and study of atmospheric 3D winds conditions while fitting in a CubeSat-style (1000 cm2) volume. The planned system is a single-channel fiber optic-based, eye-safe wind LADAR that includes a MEMS inertial measurement unit (IMU), image comparison, and GPS inputs to obtain a global stabilized coordinate 3D image which allows coherent updating. This feature is key for the wind detection function, as it allows coherent voxel updates over a second, necessary for detecting low speed air currents and determining the vector direction of the air current using changing view angle during pitching and direction changes. The system utilizes telecom fiber components to achieve low cost and miniature sizing. The proposed system will combine mature LIDAR and LADAR system elements already within the SPEC product portfolio.