The full UAV-deployable 3D wind sensor platform that is to be developed in this two-phase effort is anticipated to have multiple applications relevant to current or upcoming NASA missions. Specific recent and ongoing relevant NASA missions include: - Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) - Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) - Development and Evaluation of Satellite Validation Tools by Experimenters (DEVOTE), - Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP). In more general terms, the proposed wind sensor will have applications in any airborne NASA mission seeking to better understand tropospheric wind patterns, weather dynamics, and climate processes while aiding calibration and validation of satellite-bound technologies for global wind measurement and extraterrestrial wind sensing missions (e.g., Venus). The technology developed in this project, especially the versatile lidar beam scanning system in Phase I, can be tailored for a number of other NASA sensor platforms as well, such as for differential absorption lidar (DIAL) or other absorption-based optical sensing techniques.
The 3D wind sensor and non-mechanical beam steering technology have numerous commercial applications outside of NASA as well. With the ability to incorporate forward looking wind sensing, the platform can provide a low-SWaP package for hazard prediction for commercial and private aviation. Additionally, the sensor would be well suited to deployment on wind farms for guiding and controlling power-generating wind turbines. The sensor is particularly well suited for this application because the low-SWaP package is ideal for mounting directly to a turbine or even packaging in an ocean-going buoy for sea-based wind farms. Such a buoy network would also have weather warning and prediction applications. The fundamental innovation of the non-mechanical beam steering technology has an even wider array of potential commercial applications. Within the Department of Defense, BNS plans to continue pursuing development of this technology for applications such as munitions seeker tracking, passive imaging, and conventional hard-target lidar. For civilian applications, lidar technology is being employed in a variety of applications such as automobile collision avoidance, autonomous robotics, noncontact structure analysis, topographical mapping and target identification. BNS is also increasingly generating interest from automotive manufacturers who wish to incorporate non-mechanical headlight steering.
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