Steven M. Zuraski, Air Force Research Laboratory; Brian Z. Haimbaugh, Air Force Research Laboratory; Steven T. Fiorino, Air Force Institute of Technology; Jack E. McCrae, Air Force Institute of Technology; Ethan J. VanTilburg, Applied Optimization Inc.; Matthew D. Wilson, Applied Optimization Inc.; Luke W. Weisenbach, Applied Optimization Inc.
Keywords: Turbulence, Rayleigh Beacons, Wavefront Sensing, Refractive Index Structure Parameter, Fried Parameter, Remote Sensing and Sensors, Atmospherics, Imaging through Turbulence
Abstract:
Many ground-based space object imaging systems are impacted by atmospheric turbulence. Atmospheric turbulence distorts the incoming optical wavefront leading to object blur, often resulting in an unrecognizable target. Advancements in detecting these disturbances and assessing the profiled turbulence strength and its changes have led to mitigation techniques that are able to overcome the atmospheric turbulence induced impacts on these ground-based imaging systems. The goal of our research is to better understand the techniques available for measuring the profiled strength of optical turbulence for a ground-to-space imaging scenario.
This paper describes three methods for measuring and assessing the profiled strength of atmospheric turbulence that were used in a joint data collection campaign at the John Bryan Observatory site located in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Method one involved the use of a dynamically ranged Rayleigh beacon system. Method two utilized a commercial system called DELTA-Sky that is based off delayed tilt anisoplanatism variance statistics derived from object features in the scene. Method three employed numerical weather prediction (NWP) data generated from radiosonde, aircraft, and satellite measurements used in a turbulence strength estimation model derived from Tatarskis relations for estimating CT2. These three methods are cross-compared in their ability to accurately assess the profiled strength of atmospheric turbulence and correlations are examined. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each technique.
Date of Conference: September 27-20, 2022
Track: Atmospherics/Space Weather