Intensity fluctuations from a 532nm CW laser source were collected over an outdoor 1km path, 2m above the ground,
with three different receiving apertures. The scintillation index was found for each receiving aperture and recently
developed theory for all regimes of optical turbulence was used to infer three atmospheric parameters, Cn2, l0, and L0.
Parallel to the three-aperture data collection was a commercial scintillometer unit which reported Cn2 and crosswind
speed. There was also a weather station positioned at the receiver side which provided point measurements for
temperature and wind speed. The Cn2 measurement obtained from the commercial scintillometer was used to infer l0, L0,
and the scintillation index. Those values were then compared to the inferred atmospheric parameters from the
experimental data. Finally, the optimal aperture sizes for data collection with the three-aperture receiver were
determined.
We report on a set of measurements made in December 2005 by researchers from the University of Central Florida, SPAWAR's Innovative Science and Technology Experiment Facility (ISTEF), Harris Corporation, NASA Kennedy Space Center, and Northrop Grumman. The experiments were conducted on the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) over terrestrial paths of 1, 2, and 5 km. The purpose of the experiments was to determine the atmospheric-induced beam spreading and beam wander at various ranges. Two lasers were used in the experiments. Both were a pulsed 1.06 μm laser; however, one was single-mode and the other was multi-mode. Beam profiles were recorded near the target position. Simultaneous measurements of Cn2, wind speed and direction, humidity, visibility, temperature, and surface temperature profiles were all recorded.
The Shuttle Landing Facility runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida is almost 5 km long and 100 m wide. Its homogeneous environment makes it a unique and ideal place for testing and evaluating EO systems. An experiment, with the goal of characterizing atmospheric parameters on the runway, was conducted in June 2005. Weather data was collected and the refractive index structure parameter was measured with a commercial scintillometer. The inner scale of turbulence was inferred from wind speed measurements and surface roughness. Values of the crosswind speed obtained from the scintillometer were compared with wind measurements taken by a weather station.
We report on measurements made at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) runway at Kennedy Space Center of receiver aperture averaging effects on a propagating optical Gaussian beam wave over a propagation path of 1,000 m. A commercially available instrument with both transmit and receive apertures was used to transmit a modulated laser beam operating at 1550 nm through a transmit aperture of 2.54 cm. An identical model of the same instrument was used as a receiver with a single aperture that was varied in size up to 20 cm to measure the effect of receiver aperture averaging on Bit Error Rate. Simultaneous measurements were also made with a scintillometer instrument and local weather station instruments to characterize atmospheric conditions along the propagation path during the experiments.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.