Abstract

Every airborne operation is affected by the winds. This is particularly true for operations where objects are released from an aircraft to fall to the ground without controls (e.g. cargo parachute deliveries and unguided bomb releases). Aircraft crews have used a variety of techniques (e.g. winds from closest weather station, balloon launch winds, winds at altitude, etc.) in an attempt to determine the intervening winds during such missions so that release points could be adjusted to compensate for these winds. These efforts have had limited success. A desired alternative to these approaches would be to have a sensor on board the aircraft that could directly measure the wind fields in real-time. This project, which is the subject of this paper, is designed to demonstrate exactly that type of airborne sensor using an eye-safe laser radar. We defined this system as an “interim operational capability” (IOC), because the system was not designed nor engineered for this particular application. Rather, we assembled a system using available sub-systems that could be installed on a particular type of aircraft in a short timeframe and thereby provide a wind measuring capability for airdrop missions should the need arise.

© 1995 Optical Society of America