Abstract

CTI has developed rugged coherent lidar systems based on solid state two micron laser technology, for ground-based and airborne wind measurements, and is currently involved in plans to deploy the first coherent lidar on the Space Shuttle to measure global winds from low earth orbit [1,2]. Applications for these lidar systems include meteorology, monitoring of wind shear, microbursts, and wake vortices in the vicinity of airports, clear air turbulence, and winds above and below aircraft for efficient fuel consumption during flight. This paper discusses: (1) laser design features that have been implemented at CTI to achieve efficient injection-seeded Q-switched operation of both end-pumped and side-pumped two micron lasers for coherent lidar applications, (2) example data from field measurements, including wake vortex detection, and (3) planned features of the Shuttle-borne Doppler wind lidar, and the development path for deployment on a free-flying satellite. Figure 1 below shows an example of local wind profile data acquired with a ground-based two micron lidar, while Figure 2 shows example lidar transceiver hardware developed for airborne operation to 40,000 ft altitude.

© 1998 IEEE