A multidisciplinary LIDAR-system: Aims, technology and missions
- Paper ID
1977-IAF-127
- author
- company
Dornier Systems
- country
Federal Republic of Germany
- year
1977
- abstract
At the end of next year we hope to have an airborne Lidar which will enable us to measure both aerosols and trace gases. The layout of this airborne experiment just ended and the hardware work will now begin. The project is a joint effort of the DFVLR Institut für Physik der Atmosphare, the Battelle Institut in Frankfurt and Dornier System in Friedrichshafen and is sponsored by the BMFT under the management of BPT-DFVLR. This airborne Lidar-system shall not only be a test for the technical performance of components and methods. It shall allow the scientists to see the advantages, possibilities and related problems of this rather new technology. Let me, therefore, discuss the aims of such a Lidar, the technical layout and the planned missions. Lidar means LJLght IDetection And Ranging and it is, like Radar, a certain method of measurement. The difference between Lidar and Radar is the wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum which they use. The Lidar uses the optical light, the Radar uses wavelengths in the cm-range. The method is the same: A short impulse of light or electromagnetic radiation is emitted into a narrow beam. A sensitive receiver at the same place looks in the same direction as the emitter and registers the reflected or backscattered radiation. Cause of the radar backscatter in the atmosphere may be solids like airplanes or clouds (Weather- Radar). Cause of light backscattering may be the air molecules, the aerosols or also haze and clouds. The time elapsed between the outgoing and the returning impulse is a direct indication of the distance between the observer and the inhomogeneity. The signal amplitude is an indication of the amount of aerosols encountered .