A differential absorption lidar has been built to measure CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. The transmitter is a pulsed single-frequency Ho:Tm:YLF laser at a 2.05-microm wavelength. A coherent heterodyne receiver was used to achieve sensitive detection, with the additional capability for wind profiling by a Doppler technique. Signal processing includes an algorithm for power measurement of a heterodyne signal. Results show a precision of the CO2 concentration measurement of 1%-2% 1sigma standard deviation over column lengths ranging from 1.2 to 2.8 km by an average of 1000 pulse pairs. A preliminary assessment of instrument sensitivity was made with an 8-h-long measurement set, along with correlative measurements with an in situ sensor, to determine that a CO2 trend could be detected.

A 2 microm wavelength, 90 mJ, 5 Hz pulsed Ho laser is described with wavelength control to precisely tune and lock the wavelength at a desired offset up to 2.9 GHz from the center of a CO(2) absorption line. Once detuned from the line center the laser wavelength is actively locked to keep the wavelength within 1.9 MHz standard deviation about the setpoint. This wavelength control allows optimization of the optical depth for a differential absorption lidar (DIAL) measuring atmospheric CO(2) concentrations. The laser transmitter has been coupled with a coherent heterodyne receiver for measurements of CO(2) concentration using aerosol backscatter; wind and aerosols are also measured with the same lidar and provide useful additional information on atmospheric structure. Range-resolved CO(2) measurements were made with <2.4% standard deviation using 500 m range bins and 6.7 min? (1000 pulse pairs) integration time. Measurement of a horizontal column showed a precision of the CO(2) concentration to <0.7% standard deviation using a 30 min? (4500 pulse pairs) integration time, and comparison with a collocated in situ sensor showed the DIAL to measure the same trend of a diurnal variation and to detect shorter time scale CO(2) perturbations. For vertical column measurements the lidar was setup at the WLEF tall tower site in Wisconsin to provide meteorological profiles and to compare the DIAL measurements with the in situ sensors distributed on the tower up to 396 m height. Assuming the DIAL column measurement extending from 153 m altitude to 1353 m altitude should agree with the tower in situ sensor at 396 m altitude, there was a 7.9 ppm rms difference between the DIAL and the in situ sensor using a 30 min? rolling average on the DIAL measurement.

An all fiber linear frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) coherent laser radar system is under development with a goal to aide NASA's new Space Exploration initiative for manned and robotic missions to the Moon and Mars. By employing a combination of optical heterodyne and linear frequency modulation techniques [1][2][3] and utilizing state-of-the-art fiber optic technologies, highly efficient, compact and reliable laser radar suitable for operation in a space environment is being developed. Linear FMCW lidar has the capability of high-resolution range measurements, and when configured into a multi-channel receiver system it has the capability of obtaining high precision horizontal and vertical velocity measurements. Precision range and vector velocity data are beneficial to navigating planetary landing pods to the preselected site and achieving autonomous, safe soft-landing.The all-fiber coherent laser radar has several important advantages over more conventional pulsed laser altimeters or range finders. One of the advantages of the coherent laser radar is its ability to measure directly the platform velocity by extracting the Doppler shift generated from the motion, as opposed to time of flight range finders where terrain features such as hills, cliffs, or slopes add error to the velocity measurement. Doppler measurements are about two orders of magnitude more accurate than the velocity estimates obtained by pulsed laser altimeters [4]. In addition, most of the components of the device are efficient and reliable commercial off-the-shelf fiber optic telecommunication components. This paper discusses the design and performance of a second-generation brassboard system under development at NASA Langley Research Center as part of the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance (ALHAT) project.

High-energy 2-µm lasers have been incorporated in a breadboard coherent Doppler lidar to test component technologies and explore applications for remote sensing of the atmosphere. Design of the lidar is presented including aspects in the laser transmitter, receiver, photodetector, and signal processing. Sample data is presented on wind profiling and CO 2 concentration measurements.

A navigation Doppler Lidar (DL) was developed at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) for high precision velocity measurements from a lunar or planetary landing vehicle in support of the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project. A unique feature of this DL is that it has the capability to provide a precision velocity vector which can be easily separated into horizontal and vertical velocity components and high accuracy line of sight (LOS) range measurements. This dual mode of operation can provide useful information, such as vehicle orientation relative to the direction of travel, and vehicle attitude relative to the sensor footprint on the ground. System performance was evaluated in a series of helicopter flight tests over the California desert. This paper provides a description of the DL system and presents results obtained from these flight tests.