Crosswind speed measurement by optical measurement of scintillation
AssigneeTorrey Pines Logic, Inc.
InventorLeo Volfson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure describes methods and systems for measuring crosswind speed by optical measurement of laser scintillation. One method includes projecting radiation into a medium, receiving, over time, with a photodetector receiver, a plurality of scintillation patterns of scattered radiation, comparing cumulative a radiation intensity for each received scintillation pattern of the received plurality of scintillation patterns, and measuring a cumulative weighted average cross-movement within the medium using the compared cumulative radiation intensities.
Claims20
A device for optically measuring crosswind, comprising:
- a laser transmitter adapted to generate a laser to illuminate a path through an atmosphere;
- a receiver comprising a single-pixel photodiode coupled with optics and adapted to analyze the path of the laser through the atmosphere, the single-pixel photodiode subdivided into a plurality of distinct detecting areas, each detecting area acting as a separate photodetector and spaced apart from other detecting areas at a known particular distance, each detecting area receiving a scintillation pattern created by atmospheric eddies diffracting and refracting scattered laser radiation, and, for each detecting area, converting the received scintillation pattern into a single data point measuring cumulative light intensity;
- and
- the device adapted to compare cumulative light intensities from each detecting area and to generate a crosswind profile along the path of the laser.
A device for optically measuring a cross-movement profile within a medium, comprising:
- a receiver comprising a single-pixel photodiode coupled with optics and adapted to analyze the path of the laser through the medium, the single-pixel photodiode subdivided into a plurality of distinct detecting areas, each detecting area acting as a separate photodetector and spaced apart from other detecting areas at a known particular distance, each detecting area configured to receive, over time and from a substantially common direction, a plurality of snapshots of a moving scintillation pattern created by eddies in the medium due to temperature gradients diffracting and refracting scattered laser radiation and for each detecting area, converting each received snapshot into a single data point measuring cumulative light intensity;
- and
- the device configured to compare cumulative light intensities from each detecting area and to generate a cross-movement profile within the medium, the generation of the cross-movement profile a function of the particular spacing between, and a size of, each of the plurality of distinct detecting areas.
A method for measuring cross-movement within a medium for medium-profiling purposes, comprising:
- projecting radiation into a medium to illuminate a path through the medium;
- receiving, over time, with a single-pixel photodiode receiver coupled with optics and subdivided into a plurality of distinct detecting areas, a plurality of scintillation patterns, each scintillation pattern created by eddies in the medium diffracting and refracting scattered radiation, each detecting area spaced apart from other detecting areas at a known particular distance and acting as a separate photodetector;
- for each detecting area, converting a received particular scintillation pattern into a single data point measuring cumulative radiation intensity;
- comparing the cumulative radiation intensity for each received scintillation pattern of the received plurality of scintillation patterns;
- and
- calculating a cumulative weighted average cross-movement within the medium along the path using the compared cumulative radiation intensities.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.