| Sponsor |
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency |
| Objective |
The objective of this work was to investigate the feasibility of detecting helicopters screened by topographic features, trees, etc. |
| Approach |
Vista Research's concept involved scattering laser energy from density variations in the atmosphere produced by the fundamental rotor tone (10-30 Hz). A short-pulse-length (10 ns), high-repetition-rate (100 Hz) lidar system can exploit both temporal and spatial coherence in the acoustic field. Preliminary calculations showed that this approach warranted both further theoretical study and experimental measurements. In the first phase of this program, Vista Research developed a predictive model for the concept, performed a system analysis to determine the optimum wavelength, and built a short-range (100 m) lidar to make preliminary measurements. |
| Application |
Defense against screened helicopters |
