Unmanned Vehicle [UxV] Manufacturability Focus Area 3

The U.S. Navy uses lasers for directed energy weapons (DEWs) and free-space optical communication.  Optical extinction is critical to both applications.  For example, simulations have determined that aerosol optical extinction is the one of the largest sources of variability/uncertainty for DEWS.  Similarly, free-space optical communication systems are impaired by scattering from atmospheric aerosols causing significant extinction of an optical signal and possible system outage.   In Phase I, Nikira Labs Inc. developed an open-path, self-calibrating cavity ringdown system (CRDS) that measures optical extinction at 532 nm, 852 nm, and 1065 nm.  The analyzer had a 1s, 1s precision of better than ±0.5 Mm-1 with a dynamic range of 0.001 – 20 km-1.  Accuracy was confirmed by measuring Rayleigh scattering before the unit was deployed on at the Marine Meteorology Division of the Naval Research Laboratory for 37 days over which it required minimal user intervention and no mirror cleaning.  Several events were observed, and the measured extinctions were in agreement with commercial visibility measurements.  The prototype already meets/exceeds many of Navy’s nominal performance targets including extinction range, wavelengths, response time, power usage, user intervention, and data storage.   In Phase II, we will fabricate and deliver three multi-wavelength instruments to the Navy for aerosol extinction measurements. The first will be intended for ground-based usage in test stations or firing ranges.  The second will capable of making airborne, shipboard, or other mobile measurements.  The final instrument will be miniaturized for UAV deployment.  All analyzers will be laboratory tested to determine their performance before being deployed and delivered to NRL.