A Compact, Wide Area Surveillance 3D Imaging LIDAR Providing UAS Sense and Avoid Capabilities

Eye safe 3D Imaging LIDARS when combined with advanced very high sensitivity, large format receivers can provide a robust wide area search capability in a very compact package. This search LIDAR concept, when deployed on UAS, can provide target detection, tracking and identification of sufficient quality to enable search and avoid actions when other air traffic flies near UAS platforms in the National Air Space. Current fiber laser technology, operating at a 1.5 micron wavelength, has sufficient pulse energy and pulse rates to illuminate large areas around the UAS platform. The relatively low energy per pulse of the fiber laser is compensated by a new development in large format , compact receivers ( 2,000 x 32 or 1000 x 1000) which exhibit near photon counting capability in very small pixels (~ 15 microns).

The development of the proposed Sense and Avoid sensor suite is directly applicable to the operation of high altitude unmanned vehicles that are/will be used in supporting NASA missions. The need for such Sense and Avoid systems to enable autonomous operations is recognized in the SBIR solicitation under topic S3.04. The large volume and highly accurate 3D mapping capabilities enabled by the proposed advanced receiver technology could aid in missions requiring autonomous landing.

Autonomous operations of unmanned air systems in the National Air Space is a recognized need across the spectrum of US, State , and Local government organizations for such needs as air system development and testing, crop surveys, surface mapping, police and other security related functions. These needs extend directly into the civil sector of the US economy. Of particular interest are the autonomous landing capabilities of rotary wing vehicles enabled by this technology.

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