Abstract
An important aeronautics application of lidar is the airborne remote detection of Clear Air Turbulence which cannot be performed with onboard radar. We report on a DLR-developed lidar system for the remote detection of such turbulent areas in the flight path of an aircraft. The lidar, consisting of a high-power UV laser transmitter and a direct detection system, was installed on a Dutch research aircraft. Flight tests executed in 2013 demonstrated the performance of the lidar system to detect local subtle variations in the molecular backscatter coefficient indicating the turbulence some 10 to 15 km ahead.
Highlights
In commercial aviation, Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) encounter is a leading cause for injuries to cabin crew and passengers causing M$ per year to airlines
Occurring at cruise altitudes in clear air, CAT may not be detected by radar due to the absence of hydrometeors
Lidar detection is possible with different methods, by either measuring wind speed fluctuations with coherent Doppler wind lidar or air density fluctuations, the latter method described
Summary
Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) encounter is a leading cause for injuries to cabin crew and passengers causing M$ per year to airlines. Coherent Doppler lidar has the disadvantage of relying on backscatter from aerosols that are, at cruise flight altitudes, not sufficiently present for a generally reliable and long-range detection of CAT. It measures wind speed in the direction of line-of-sight whereas the hazardous turbulent winds occur vertically, perpendicular to the flight path. UV laser beam is aimed into the flight direction and the backscattered radiation is sufficiently averaged in order to attain the necessary level of resolution, which is on the percent level for the “moderate” turbulence In the following, this lidar system is described, an overview of the flight campaign is given and the measurement results are discussed
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