Aero-wave instrument for the measurement of the optical wave-front disturbances in the airflow around airborne systems

An aero-optical disturbance measurement system, comprising:

• a mirror supported by a gimbal for receiving a light beam from a light emitting source and reflecting the light beam emitted from the light emitting source to a first periscope fold mirror;
• a second periscope fold mirror positioned to receive the light beam reflected directly from the first periscope fold mirror;
• a first concave off-axis paraboloid mirror positioned to receive the light beam reflected from the second periscope fold mirror;
• a first fold mirror positioned to receive the light beam reflected directly from the first concave off-axis paraboloid mirror;
• a second fold mirror positioned to receive the light beam reflected directly from the first fold mirror;
• a second concave off-axis paraboloid mirror positioned to receive the light beam reflected directly from the second fold mirror and reflecting the light beam to a fast steering mirror;
• and
• a beam splitter which receives the light beam reflected directly from the fast steering mirror wherein the beam splitter splits the light beam into a transmitted portion and a reflected portion.

An aero-optical disturbance measurement system, comprising:

• a mirror supported by a gimbal for receiving a light beam from a light emitting source and reflecting the light beam emitted from the light emitting source to a fast steering mirror;
• a beam splitter which receives the light beam reflected directly from the fast steering mirror wherein the beam splitter splits the light beam into a transmitted portion and a reflected portion;
• and
• a fine tracker camera coupled to an embedded processer wherein:
• the fine tracker camera receives the transmitted portion of the light beam from the fast steering mirror;
• the embedded processor is coupled to the fast steering mirror such that the embedded processor controls movement of the fast steering mirror;
• and
• the embedded processor is coupled to the gimbal and controls the movement of the mirror supported by the gimbal.