Project Title:
Aircraft Wake Tracking, Analysis and Algorithm Development
Coherent Technologies, Inc.
P.O. Box 7488
Boulder, CO 80306-7488
93-1 03.02 8736 Amount Requested $ 69,116
Aircraft Wake Tracking, Analysis and Algorithm Development
Abstract:
NASA has recently begun a program to improve terminal area
productivity (capacity) that will serve to simultaneously save
airline operating costs and improve aviation safety. Reduction of
aircraft spacing during instrument flight rules (IFR) conditions
requires a thorough understanding of environmental effects on wake
vortex transport and decay mechanisms. In the proposed program,
existing algorithms for processing coherent lidar data to locate
and track aircraft wake vortices and to display the wake structure
are to be expanded. A currently available database of wake
measurements made at Stapleton International Airport will be
analyzed with existing algorithms for wake tracks and wake
strengths. Tracks will be correlated with available environmental
data and analyzed for wake decay and transport mechanisms. A 2D
Kalman hydro-code analysis will be upgraded and applied to these
data and the results assessed for capability of the Kalman
procedure to identify wake structure. An analysis of the
requirements for implementation in 3D with a high PRF system will
be developed and incorporated into the existing real-time processor
using a limited 3D grid and evaluated for capability to handle an
upgrade to a high PRF. Memory and CPU requirements for a 3D
implementation of the Kalman analysis will be determined and a
design for an upgraded real-time processor will be developed.
The proposed development of algorithms and an advanced real-time
processor will support a wide range of applications. Applications
include: ground-based airport scanning systems for windshear and
vortex wake applications; various on-board sensing scenarios,
including detection of trailing vortices; airdata applications
involving wind vector data acquisition; and processing for
autopilot input and flight control during clear-air turbulence or
wake vortex encounters.
lidar, laser radar, coherent detection, wake vortex