Advanced water-vapor lidar detection system for aircraft and space deployment

Abstract

An advanced compact differential absorption lidar detection system for atmospheric water vapor measurement is reported. This system interfaces the lidar receiver telescope to a personal computer and contains an advanced avalanche photodiode detector, signal conditioning circuit, 14-bit, 10 MHz digitizer and a microcontroller. The whole system was realized on one electronic card. Characterization results indicate low noise with reduced size, reduced mass and an extended measurement range over current lidar detection systems. The new system can be incorporated in spacecraft lidar systems. Simulated lidar return measurements were performed with the new system in order to obtain its minimum detectable signal limits.