Airborne Aero-Optics Laboratory - Transonic (AAOL-T)

摘要

This paper gives a short background in aero-optics which is the effect that turbulent flow over and around an aircraft has on a laser projected or received by an optical system. The background provides a rationale for developing the Airborne Aero-Optics Laboratory, AAOL, programs. The Airborne Aero-Optics Laboratory-Transonic, AAOL-T, is the second of the laboratory programs having a higher Mach number capability that the original AAOL. This paper describes the AAOL-T operating procedure and capabilities of the flight program. The baseline capabilities capturing wavefronts imposed on a laser beam propagated through the flow fields over the program's morphable optical turret are describe as is the method of collapsing the data for more general use. Also described in the paper are the laboratories capabilities and interface guidelines to support other types of testing. Examples of data taken at up to Mach 0.8 are given.