24-10-2012, 12:24 PM
Test Bed Doppler Wind Lidar and Intercomparison Facility At NASA Langley Research Center
ABSTRACT
State of the art 2-micron lasers and other lidar components under development by NASA are being demonstrated and
validated in a mobile test bed Doppler wind lidar. A lidar intercomparison facility has been developed to ensure parallel
alignment of up to 4 Doppler lidar systems while measuring wind. Investigations of the new components; their operation in
a complete system; systematic and random errors; the hybrid (joint coherent and direct detection) approach to global wind
measurement; and atmospheric wind behavior are planned. Future uses of the VALIDAR (VALIDation LIDAR) mobile lidar
may include comparison with the data from an airborne Doppler wind lidar in preparation for validation by the airborne system
of an earth orbiting Doppler wind lidar sensor.