Optical Turbulence Forecast Technology

Atmospheric optical turbulence reduces the capability of free space optical communication systems and directed energy systems to achieve their missions. The optical turbulence forecasts will allow the users of these systems to plan their missions to ensure success. Guidestar Optical Systems (Guidestar) has developed an optical turbulence forecast technology that uses commercially available Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) forecasts as inputs to produce forecasts of optical turbulence. While Guidestar initially developed this capability to serve the space to ground commercial laser communication market, we identified several Air Force (AF) customers and end users for this product during our Phase I program. In Phase II, Guidestar proposes to transition our optical turbulence forecast technology to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud, integrate AF NWP model data with our technology, and provide AF trial users access to the technology for evaluation purposes. The commercialization model for our technology includes primarily commercial space to ground laser communication network providers as the initial customer in a subscription based revenue model to fund the maintenance and improvements to the technology. The Federal Government customers will receive a reduced subscription fee to cover the recurring operating costs, as the commercial customers and market will fund additional developments.