Solid-state coherent laser radar wind field measurement systems

Diode-pumped solid-state pulsed coherent laser radar systems have recently been developed at Coherent Technologies, Inc., for the remote measurement of atmospheric wind fields. Flashlamp-pumped systems have been utilized since 1990 for obtaining wind field measurements. These flashlamp-pumped lidar systems have been applied to wind profiling, aircraft-wake vortex measurements, airport wind shear and gust front monitoring, military cargo air drops and many other applications. The diode-pumped coherent lidar systems currently available are capable of near turnkey operation. The Tm:YAG laser transceivers operate at with output pulse energies of 1-10 mJ with PRFs of 1000 to 100 Hz, respectively. Range resolutions of 30-75 m are typical. A real-time lidar signal processor has also been developed for collecting and analysing laser radar (lidar) data. The signal processor is based on a commercial PC architecture and offers a real-time data acquisition, analysis, display, recording and playback environment. Wind measurements and overall system performance results will be presented. Wind measurement performance, for a variety of applications, is presented using the flashlamp- and diode-pumped coherent lidars including measured wind profiles from ground and on aircraft, wake vortex tracking results, and example flows over mountain terrain.