Portable Atmosphere Scanning LIDAR

To address the NASA need for innovative instrumentation to support its current and future missions related to the investigation of Earth's ecosystem, Physical Optics Corporation proposes to adapt its portable, robust, ground-based light detection and ranging (LIDAR) weather system to measure winds, temperature, and humidity in a 3D volume with the ability to scan horizontally and vertically with a range of up to 10 km. The proposed Portable Atmospheric Scanning LIDAR (PASL) system will include POC's recent developments in coherent LIDAR for wind sensing, Differential Absorption LIDAR (DIAL) for measurements of water vapor content distribution, and Rotational Raman LIDAR for temperature measurements. POC's existing and proposed innovations in the integrated LIDAR designs will provide NASA with a system with very low size, weight, and power consumption, which will make the PASL easily deployable to any place on the globe and capable of long-term autonomous operation in support of NASA's research missions. In Phase I, POC will refine its existing non-scanning system and modify its design to facilitate 3D scanning, extend its functional range of operation to 10 km, further develop software for fast data processing, and fabricate a prototype of the wind LIDAR (TRL-4). In Phase II, the operational prototype of the entire scanning PASL system will be fabricated and tested (TRL-6).

The availability of a compact, easily-deployable PASL system will facilitate validation of results of measurements of atmospheric parameters with new satellite devices that NASA is developing for its current and future missions, such as Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE), Hyperspectral InfraRed Imager (HyspIRI), and Aerosol, Cloud, and Ecosystems (ACE, including Pre-ACE/PACE). The PASL may be delivered to any place on Earth and used almost autonomously for long periods of time to collect data about the atmospheric parameters at a range over 10 km over prescribed directions in the entire hemisphere, including both vertical and horizontal paths. During the course of the project, POC will work together with NASA personnel at the Ames Research Center, Langley Research Center, and other centers to identify the immediate and follow-on applications for PASL, and identify any auxiliary sensors and equipment needed to operate in conjunction with the PASL system.

The PASL will be used by government weather forecasting agencies (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)) and weather services at all military branches for improving weather forecasts by collecting atmospheric data more frequently than with currently used weather balloons that are typically launched twice a day. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) can use this relatively inexpensive and compact device for weather monitoring around airports and for detection of air vortices created by large aircraft to avoid dangerous conditions on runways. Universities and non-government research institutions will use the PASL for environmental research, including investigations of atmospheric processes and their influence on climate change. PASL can also be used for monitoring the propagation of natural and industrial aerosols and environmental pollutions around the globe and their interaction with clouds.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.